"Smart IP for Latin America" is an initiative of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, a research institute of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science located in Munich, Germany. The initiative was launched with the aim of establishing a neutral forum for academic and political dialogue on intellectual property and competition law in Latin America. Through its Observatories, it provides evidence-based and impartial policy advise to decision-makers. Smart IP for Latin America is conceived as an independent think tank that serves as a bridge between basic research and public policy.
"Smart IP for Latin America" is an initiative of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, a research institute of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science located in Munich, Germany. The initiative was launched with the aim of establishing a neutral forum for academic and political dialogue on intellectual property and competition law in Latin America. Through its Observatories, it provides evidence-based and impartial policy advise to decision-makers. Smart IP for Latin America is conceived as an independent think tank that serves as a bridge between basic research and public policy.
The Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition is a politically independent non-profit institution with more than 50 years of experience in basic research and international scientific cooperation. Its research incorporates the interests and needs of developed and developing countries alike, supporting them in designing sustainable and balanced public policies and legal frameworks while respecting local particularities and regional diversity.
Smart IP for Latin America focuses on innovation as the key driver of sustainable development, capable of generating the productive growth that the region needs to face the challenges raised. That would mainly be achieved by incorporating new technologies into food production and renewable energy.
In this context, intellectual property systems might be considered as public policy instruments that should contribute to unlocking a country’s social, cultural, and economic potential. For that to happen, IP rights must be adapted to the local market realities and competitive environment, taking into account the specific characteristics and needs of the region, the different social groups and their respective needs, as well as the interests of all relevant stakeholders. These systems should be continually assessed in light of their real-world social and economic impacts, emphasising that the development must avoid social and economic inequalities.
The Initiative offers guidance to support regulatory and legal frameworks that enhance countries’ creative and technological capacities. While intellectual property and competition law are at the heart of its work, the Initiative´s approach integrates interdisciplinary knowledge. It supports impactful projects aligned with regional development priorities, advancing innovation and sustainability through legal and policy research at the intersection of human development, social inclusion, and economic transformation.
The Initiative works to raise awareness about the importance of balanced, development-oriented regulatory frameworks. It promotes collaboration among academia, public institutions, and the private sector to strengthen legal and institutional capacities in Latin America. By connecting research to action, Smart IP for Latin America contributes to building inclusive innovation ecosystems that enable sustainable growth and social integration.
The research projects and events of the Initiative are coordinated by Observatories, in close collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition. The Observatories organize summits all over Latin America to develop research projects and discuss the findings with stakeholders. They also prepare and disseminate scientific studies and policy papers and organizes lectures, seminars and workshops, as well as the Initiative's annual conference.
The Observatories have permanent members and count on the support of a large network of academics from all over Latin America who form part of the Initiative's research projects.
Smart IP for Latin America is supported by selected partner institutions such as universities or governmental and non-governmental entities. They are members of the initiative’s Consortium.
The Observatories collaborate primarily with the academic staff of these partner institutions. In this way the Consortium’s members become research hubs for the initiative’s projects.
To become a member of the Consortium, please get in touch with us at sipla@ip.mpg.de.
Within the broad research spectrum of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science, the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition is committed to fundamental legal and economic research on processes of innovation and competition and their regulation. Its research focuses on the incentives, determinants and implications of innovation. With an outstanding international team of scholars and excellent scientific and administrative infrastructure including our renowned library, it hosts academics from all over the world and actively promote young researchers. It informs and guides legal and economic discourse on an impartial basis. As an independent research institution, it provides evidence-based research results to academia, policymakers and the private sector, as well as the general public.
The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science is Germany's most successful research organization. Since its establishment in 1948, 30 Nobel laureates have emerged from the ranks of its scientists, putting it on a par with the best and most prestigious research institutions worldwide.
The Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition is one of currently 86 research institutes of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science conducting basic research in the service of the general public in the natural sciences, life sciences, social sciences, and the humanities. It is one of 11 institutes devoted to legal science. The Institute was founded in 1966 as the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Patent, Copyright and Competition Law. In 2013, after the establishment of a new economics department, its name was changed to Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition.
Since its founding 50 years ago, the Institute has been committed to the development of intellectual property law and competition law on the basis of sound scientific principles. Through its wide range of contributions to research, it has initiated and provided guidance for important legislative processes on the national, the European and the international level. With the addition in 2013 of the economics department, the Institute took account of the fact that legal aspects are not the only factors determining the regulation of these processes. Rather, economic considerations represent an important, complementary set of instruments to measure the effects of legal norms. Conversely, economists also increasingly use insights from the field of law to make more realistic models of the processes and institutions they study and to examine them empirically. Using such complementary approaches in research allows for a better assessment of particularly those new phenomena that generate ever more interest in the worlds of business, politics and civil society.
To learn more about the Max Planck Institute's mission and research agenda, click here.
