DG Speech – Opening Ceremony – Boao Forum 2024 – As Delivered

Ban Ki-moon, Chairman of the Boao Forum for Asia Mr Li Baodong, Secretary-General of the Boao Forum for Asia, Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, It is an honor to be here at the Boao Forum for the first time. [...] As the Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization, I am seeing more and more countries, especially emerging economies and developing countries, turn to innovation, creativity, technology and digitalization to drive growth and development. [...] Not only is Asia home to over 300 unicorns and a quarter of the world’s technology scale-ups, but Asia files more patents in semiconductors, digital technology and computer technology than the rest of the world combined. [...] IP can no longer just be for experts and specialists, but also those innovating and creating on the ground and at the grassroots level. [...] WIPO will work hard to support each country to use IP to grow and develop, and to work with Asia and the global family of countries to harness the power of innovation to address our common global challenges.