The title Doctor honoris causa (h.c.) is the highest award given by the Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) in recognition of special merits. "With his clear analyses, Dr. Hilty has influenced the design of public order and helped to organize social and cultural priorities", said Mariano Genovesi, Secretary General of the University, at the award ceremony. Reto M. Hilty subsequently gave a lecture entitled "Potencial de la Propiedad Intelectual en América Latina".
The Swiss legal scholar is one of the leading experts in the field of Intellectual Property Law and an internationally renowned adviser for legislation, especially in young, emerging economies. He has been Director at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition in Munich since 2002, as well as Full Professor ad personam at the University of Zurich and Honorary Professor at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich.
As part of the research initiative "Smart IP for Latin America", an eight-member research team under his leadership is currently investigating which protection standards in Latin America are beneficial for economic development. The aim of the various individual projects is to further develop the protection systems to make sure the historical, cultural, social, economic and political framework conditions of the various countries can be taken into account appropriately.
The Universidad de Buenos Aires with currently 122,000 students, is the largest university in Argentina. In the "QS World University Ranking", it is ranked 73rd worldwide in 2019, making it the leading university in Latin America and the world's leading Spanish-speaking university.
For the Max Planck Society research cooperation in Latin America is one of the focal points. The relevance of the University of Buenos Aires manifested itself in a framework cooperation agreement between the two institutions. In March 2014, the Max Planck Society opened its own representative office for Latin America based in Buenos Aires. The office's mission is to maintain and develop relationships with partner organizations, research institutes and universities in key countries in the region.