Grand Challenges

After the advent of what was presumed would be an era of global peace, prosperity and globalization for the benefit of humanity in the 1990s and early 2000s, the world now seems to be facing an increasing number of challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic seemed to be a disruptive episode that occurred without forewarning. The risks that humanity is facing due to climate change, on the other hand, have been predicted for a longer period but now require relatively fast responses and solutions. The crises are exacerbated by regional and geo-strategic conflicts with effects on international cooperation and supply chains. Innovation cannot be the only response to the grand challenges that humanity has to deal with, but at the same time they cannot be met without technological progress. The challenges and their potential solutions require responses on a regulatory level including patent and competition law but certainly going beyond these traditional legal fields. The Institute is responding to these developments by increasingly shifting the focus of its traditional research areas to such aspects and by attempting to incorporate the necessary expertise.