World IP Day 2016 – Digital Creativity: Culture Reimagined

Every April 26 we celebrate World Intellectual Property Day to promote discussion of the role of intellectual property in encouraging innovation and creativity.

In 2000, WIPO's member states designated April 26 – the day on which the WIPO Convention came into force in 1970 – as World IP Day with the aim of increasing general understanding of IP.

Since then, World IP Day has offered a unique opportunity each year to join with others around the globe to consider how IP contributes to the flourishing of music and the arts and to driving the technological innovation that helps shape our world.

World IP Day 2016 – Digital Creativity: Culture Reimagined

Sunrise in Caracas, a writer awakens, inspired, and reaches for her tablet. Her idea lands with her collaborator in London, rehearsing in a West End theatre. Words, images, plot-lines and dialogue flash back and forth. A treatment for a new series – a global pandemic, drug cartels, high level corruption – hits the inbox of a Hollywood showrunner, who calls contacts in Dubai, Mumbai, Beijing and Berlin. Deals are cut, funds secured, distribution channels agreed.

Shooting begins: Outside scenes in Ouarzazate, interiors in Brooklyn, special effects from Bangkok. A soundtrack is added: a sizzling gumbo of rhythms from Rio and horns from Lagos, with a topping of Prague strings. The theme tune goes viral as fans stream the show on screens of every size, in every corner of the globe...

Films, TV, music, books, art, video-games –cultural works, in short– have long crossed borders. But the WiFi era is transforming how consumable culture is created, distributed and enjoyed in markets that are expanding far beyond national boundaries. Ever more accessible digital technologies have swept away physical constraints, placing a world of cross-cultural collaboration at the fingertips of every artist and creator, feeding the imagination in new ways. And with this blooming of digital creativity comes the boon to the digital consumer. We read, watch and listen to the works of countless creators across the world wherever, whenever and however we want.

Reimagining culture – how we create it, how we access it, and how we finance it – is not without challenges. And the challenge of a flexible, adaptive intellectual property system is to help ensure that the artists and creative industries in our digital universe can be properly paid for their work, so they can keep creating. So for World IP Day this year, we’re exploring some of the issues surrounding our cultural future. We’ll be talking to experts on creativity in the digital market, and to creators themselves, to find out where they think we’re heading. Join us on Facebook as the story unfolds. Season One is just starting.