The United Nations Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries: challenges in operationalizing the sustainable development agenda at the nexus of intellectual property and science, technology and innovation

Abstract

This article presents a relatively new actor in the international governance of science, technology and innovation (STI) that seems to be going unnoticed by the intellectual property (IP) scientific community: the United Nations Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) (UNTB). Established to facilitate technology transfer, development and transformative change for LDCs, the UNTB is presented with three types of challenges: structural, in view of the institution’s lack of resources and barriers impairing full implementation of its operational units; substantive, stemming from lack of normative guidance on how to apply and interpret IP in accordance with sustainable development goals; and governance, materializing on account of the fragmented and dense nature of the landscape of international STI and IP norms and institutions. This article demonstrates how the UNTB can leverage partnerships and make use of its main tools – Technology Needs Assessments and technology transfer through the IP Bank – to provide for and overcome each of these challenges. While the UNTB’s gradual implementation remains a hurdle, the conclusion is that this new organization has untapped potential to align IP with LDCs’ development concerns and to become a reference actor for LDCs with regard to STI, technology transfer and IP.