agricultural biotechnology, in particular, only since the early 1980s. This trend is unlikely to
be reversed, and, indeed, the importance of intellectual property as an intangible asset con-
tributing to the value of life science companies continues to increase. However, robust and
sustained innovation in agricultural biotechnology, as in many technology sectors, requires
a balance of both exclusive and nonexclusive access to proprietary technologies. This
balance should ensure that the fundamental research tools are broadly available to
support research and development in many application areas and at the same time
provide the exclusivity to specific trait or trait–crop combinations that will allow the devel-
oper of new varieties to recoup their substantial investment. The public sector has a role to
play alongside agricultural biotechnology companies, particularly in providing research
tools and broad enabling technologies and in addressing biotechnology applications in
specialty crops whose market size may not justify commercial investment. The most
powerful approaches, however, will come from public–private partnerships that mobilize
proprietary technologies to address agricultural biotechnology product developments that
have a high social but low commercial value, including strategies to feed some of the
world’s poorest populations.
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