April is National Intellectual Property Month (NIPM). This year, we celebrate the key role of the intellectual property (IP) system in helping realize the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), an urgent collective mission for people, planet, peace and prosperity.

The theme was set by the World IP Organization (WIPO) for World IP Day on 26 April 2024. But halfway to the deadline of achieving the SDGs by 2030, we find our progress at a very dismal pace.

More than 30 percent of the measurable targets have recorded zero progress. Even worse, some have regressed to levels before 2015 when the SDG 2030 was adopted. In total, only 15 percent of the targets are making progress. None of them are halfway towards the desired results.

As we face the compounded effects of the fast-changing climate, the Covid-19 pandemic which many of us are still reeling from, geopolitical conflicts, the inequalities and economic injustices that persist, we are doubly challenged to make good on our promise on the SDGs. The ones bearing the brunt of this collective failure are us the developing and least developed countries, the most vulnerable. We are left with fewer options and even fewer resources to make the SDGs a reality.

This month, as we celebrate NIPM 2024 with the theme “IP and SDGs,” it may be a bitter-sweet celebration as we face the sobering picture of our progress, or lack thereof. But as inconvenient as the truth may be, we need to heed the clarion call to take sustainable development seriously.

 SDGs should not just be part of a marketing ploy to attract customers and boost sales. They can no longer be isolated from CSR initiatives. They must be moved to the center of any company mission, be at the core of the next business model, the next innovation blueprint and even the next creative industry strategy because achieving them will make the difference between having an equitable and sustainable future for all or seeing a larger vulnerable population that had been failed — that we have failed — once again.

What we need more than ever are leaders and changemakers who will renew and deepen our commitment in the next six years to inspire action. As the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028 says, we need “a more vigorous intellectual property culture” to advance innovations in various aspects, whether in improving health care services, developing competitive industries, creating knowledge hubs across regions, protecting our culture, and adding value to our creative and innovative assets.

At IPOPHL, several programs and initiatives are already in place to make a bigger, more direct impact on SDGs: patent analytics services and our Innovation and Technology Support Program for SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure); Juana Make a Mark and Juana Patent and Juana Design Incentive Programs for SDG 5 (Gender Equality); Copyright Plus Program, Inventor Assistance Program and the origin-based branding project to promote geographical indications for SDG 10 (Reducing Inequalities); and our whole-of-society approach in relation to SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).

For all environment and climate-resilience related SDGs, our annual Socially Relevant Technologies emerges as a great platform to highlight green technologies.

Soon this year we hope to launch another program: the Green Technology Incentive Program. This new initiative aims to help green technology inventors protect their patents, utility models and industrial design applications by waiving basic filing fees — ranging from P4,000 to P5,000 per field of technology — and providing a green lane to speed up their application process.

Our IP community must step up to the challenge and now, more than ever, make their innovative and creative energy felt across the nation. This National IP Month, we hope to create that spark for the entire nation.