Intangibles as Firm Assets or Industrial Commons: Tensions and Opportunities – GLOBALINTO workshop summary

This workshop sought to discuss the dual nature of intangibles, and what it means for firms and for policy support.

On the one hand, firms see acquisition and control of intangibles as essential to gaining competitive advantage. On the other hand, from a systemic point of view, individual ownership of intangibles can limit the sharing and exchange of intangibles that is indispensable for growth, innovation and problem solving.

See the workshop summary here.

The workshop was opened with a presentation of the conceptual framework outlining and exemplifying this dual nature. This perspective was then applied to the COVID vaccination problem. The aim of the workshop was to distill important, more general lessons as to best nurture the power of intangibles for the common good, and for the firms that are essential engines for it.

See the workshop program here.