Intellectual property strategies for AI-enabled health innovation
Navigating intellectual property (IP) issues for new innovations has never been simple. With healthcare solutions based on artificial intelligence (AI), it can be especially complex.
Innovators, policymakers, regulators and health system organizations worldwide can now benefit from practical guidance on IP and commercialization approaches for health technologies making use of AI.
A new publication launched by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) ensures that innovators in the rapidly evolving field of AI-enabled healthcare can tap into knowledge to compete, protect their work, and deliver impact at scale.
The report, AI-enabled Health Innovation and IP: From idea to impact, was produced under the Global Initiative on AI for Health, co-led by the three organizations.
Released on 9 July during ITU’s AI for Good Global Summit, it focuses on how IP can help protect AI-health innovations and bring their benefits to patients in all regions of the world.
It covers IP considerations throughout the innovation lifecycle, explores commercialization pathways, and considers standards and governance frameworks for health data.
“ITU, WHO and WIPO are connecting research, business, technology and policy for the latest innovations to earn trust and achieve their full potential,” said Seizo Onoe, Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau at ITU. “This new publication is another example of why this partnership is so valuable.”
The associated Innovation Lifecycle IP Matrix maps strategic IP decisions from ideation through global scale-up, illustrated by case studies from across the globe. “The real challenge is not whether AI can generate new ideas for health, but whether those ideas can become safe, trusted and widely accessible solutions,” said Alain Labrique, Director in WHO’s Department for Data, Digital Health, Analytics and AI. “Intellectual property and meaningful technology transfer are central to that journey.”
The joint report suggests successful AI-health companies need to employ mixed IP approaches, combining trade secrets, copyright protection and trade secrets, rather than relying on any single approach.
It also shows how IP strategies must evolve at each stage of development, with different IP tools becoming critical at ideation, validation, approval, deployment, and scale-up phases.
“IP strategy must evolve at every stage, from early development through regulatory approval to deployment in diverse health systems, ” said WIPO Assistant Director General Edward Kwakwa.
WIPO’s contribution to the Global Initiative “demonstrates how IP can accelerate the path from innovation to patient impact across global markets,” ensuring that IP for AI in healthcare “enables partnerships, attracts investment, and creates the trusted frameworks that allow health technologies to reach those who need them.”
