The Panel has made three recommendations as follows:
(i) In dealing with proprietary science, the CGIAR must be guided by its mission. How it advances the mission will determine the need for:
· Access to the proprietary science of others;
· Protection of the CGIAR's developments;
· Preventing misappropriation by others of CGIAR material held in trust;
· Selection and design of research programmes.
Above all, research and development should never be undertaken as part of a strategy to, or simply in the hope that it will, generate either cash to support CGIAR work, or bargaining chips for acquiring rights to technology from others. On protection, Panel members are divided: some would never approve seeking protection primarily to produce bargaining chips, while others would find it appropriate in certain situations.
(ii) The CGIAR must promptly acquire relevant expertise to enable it to deal confidently with technology transfer, intellectual property and alternative rights regimes. It should, as a minimum, set up a central office to deal with such matters, with a manager reporting at high level. An immediate review of current proprietary science used by the Centres should be undertaken, so that any irregular situations can be put right as appropriate. It is needed to ensure that the Centres can deliver to clients the benefits of the research they undertake.
(iii) The Centres' existing Guiding Principles on IP should be revised, formalised and enforced. Most of the Panel is reasonably happy with the existing Guidelines, having independently arrived at similar conclusions, but feels that some inaccuracies need to be corrected and some changes of emphasis made. In particular, decisions to seek IP protection should be governed by clear mission-based rules. Unless this is done. Centres will follow inappropriate and inconsistent policies, causing confusion, legal liability and loss.
