Charter Declinations #6

Neil Gershenfeld on IP (http://www.weforum.org/sessions/summary/globalization-science-and-technology, 27 Sept 2010):

This is one emerging model in the globalization of science and technology as applied to a software business. Neil Gershenfeld, Director, The Center for Bits and Atoms, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, said it can also happen in manufacturing. The Center for Bits and Atoms has constructed several field digital fabrication labs that cost US$ 10,000, not the millions that full-scale versions require, and distributed them to communities in Ghana and rural India, among other places. Combined with digital technologies, the labs’ laser cutters, milling machines and soldering irons enable even children to build manufacturable items.

If anybody can make anything anywhere, we need to rethink everything, Gerschenfeld argued. “The bad news is that intellectual property is no longer protectable,” he said. “The good news is that intellectual property can still exist, but it will not be based on control of scarce resources. Companies will seek compensation by how they add value, not on their control of IP.” The globalization of science and technology means there are just too many places for intellectual property to leak out.