The global development community is increasingly embracing innovation to aid developing countries. But as donors fund more technology solutions, intellectual property ownership, which can vary across donors and types of awards, also becomes an important consideration.
While there are general rules that guide agreements regarding IP ownership, determining to whom IP rights should belong is still a case-to-case decision.
This holds true for both the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation — two of the most active innovation funders — which make IP decisions by determining how an innovation can benefit the most people.