managing aid program, with its strategic focus on Australia’s promoting economic development in the Indo-Pacific region, aid for trade, private sector engagement and innovation. Beyond these specific functions, engagement on international Australia’s intellectual property issues is typically led by either IP Australia (which has policy responsibility for industrial property issues such as trade marks, patents and designs) or the Department of Communications and the Arts (which has policy responsibility for copyright). Other departments and agencies can also play an important role, such as the Department of Health and the Department of Agriculture, depending on the issue at hand. D. The international economic context and the pervasiveness of intellectual property future prosperity will be closely linked to our capacity to Australia’s participate in the global trade and investment system, particularly in the IndoPacific region given its prospects for robust economic growth. Trade has played a major role in our ability to sustain our economic growth record. In the past three years, net exports have contributed over half of 7.4 per cent real GDP growth. Over the years, the ratio of exports Australia’s to GDP has grown in trend terms from around 15 per cent at the Australia’s – end of the 1970s to around 20 per cent today. The long term health of our economy beyond the mining boom will depend to a large extent on how successful we are in continuing to internationalise the economy. Given our cost structures, developing our knowledge-based and innovation industries will be a central element in ensuring that Australia is able to compete in the global marketplace. Appropriate intellectual property settings and enforcement mechanisms are important in positioning Australia in the global context as having a policy and economic environment that is conducive to innovation and open to trade, investment and capital movement. These settings need to be considered in the context of transformative economic changes over recent decades that have dramatically increased the reach and significance of intellectual property to economies and to trade and investment. Key changes include: the increasing importance of knowledge-based assets and industries to economies total research and development spending in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries grew 2.7 per cent in real terms to reach US$1.1 trillion in 2013 (OECD 2015a);
managing Australia’s aid program, with its strategic focus on promoting economic development in the Indo-Pacific region, aid for trade, private sector engagement and innovation. Beyond these specific functions, Australia’s engagement on international intellectual property issues is typically led by either IP Australia (which has policy responsibility for industrial property issues such as trade marks, patents and designs) or the Department of Communications and the Arts (which has policy responsibility for copyright). Other departments and agencies can also play an important role, such as the Department of Health and the Department of Agriculture, depending on the issue at hand. D. The international economic context and the pervasiveness of intellectual property Australia’s future prosperity will be closely linked to our capacity to participate in the global trade and investment system, particularly in the IndoPacific region given its prospects for robust economic growth. Trade has played a major role in our ability to sustain our economic growth record. In the past three years, net exports have contributed over half of Australia’s 7.4 per cent real GDP growth. Over the years, the ratio of exports to Australia’s GDP has grown in trend terms – from around 15 per cent at the end of the 1970s to around 20 per cent today. The long term health of our economy beyond the mining boom will depend to a large extent on how successful we are in continuing to internationalise the economy. Given our cost structures, developing our knowledge-based and innovation industries will be a central element in ensuring that Australia is able to compete in the global marketplace. Appropriate intellectual property settings and enforcement mechanisms are important in positioning Australia in the global context as having a policy and economic environment that is conducive to innovation and open to trade, investment and capital movement. These settings need to be considered in the context of transformative economic changes over recent decades that have dramatically increased the reach and significance of intellectual property to economies and to trade and investment. Key changes include: the increasing importance of knowledge-based assets and industries to economies total research and development spending in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries grew 2.7 per cent in real terms to reach US$1.1 trillion in 2013 (OECD 2015a);
sub065-intellectual-property.docx