Welcome back to another week of Bells & Whistles.
As always, we’ve rounded up a mix of developments, opportunities, and thoughtful reads from across the IP world along with a Bell of the Week that’s well worth revisiting.
Bell of the Week: Who Really Drives Innovation?
When we talk about innovation, we often think of businesses, entrepreneurs and the big breakthroughs they bring to the market. Governments, meanwhile, tend to be seen as playing a supporting role — funding research here, offering incentives there, and leaving the real work of innovation to private enterprise. But what if this misses a much bigger part of the story?
This is what economist Mariana Mazzucato’s work got me thinking about. In The Entrepreneurial State, she challenges the familiar idea that the state merely steps in where markets fall short. She shows how public institutions have funded early-stage research, taken risks and helped develop technologies that private businesses may not have been willing to invest in themselves. In many cases, by the time a technology becomes commercially successful, much of the groundwork has already been laid through public investment. Yet it is often the private enterprise that brings the final product to market that gets most of the credit.
Mazzucato’s point is not simply that governments contribute to innovation. It is that public investment can actively shape the direction of innovation, rather than merely support it from the sidelines. And when the risks are borne, at least in part, by the public, the rewards can still end up being captured largely by private actors.
This brings us to two interesting questions. First, how can public money more consciously shape innovation? If public investment helps determine which technologies get developed and which problems receive attention, could it be directed more deliberately towards the needs of society, rather than leaving commercial viability to determine the course of innovation?
Second, what should public access to publicly funded innovation look like? Take medicines, for instance. Public funding has contributed to the research behind important medical breakthroughs, yet the resulting treatments may be protected by patents and priced beyond the reach of many who need them. How do we ensure that the public interest does not disappear from the picture once an innovation becomes commercially valuable?
I find these questions particularly interesting from an IP perspective. We often discuss patents in terms of the incentives they provide to innovators. But Mazzucato’s work encourages us to look at the innovation process before a patent is granted, the public investments that help make it possible, and the choices that determine who ultimately benefits from it.
This is not to say that private investment does not matter, or that public funding should automatically translate into public ownership. Rather, it asks us to recognise that innovation is rarely the work of one actor alone — and to think more carefully about how public and private contributions should shape its direction and outcomes.
This week, we ring the bell for Mariana Mazzucato, for challenging the way we tell the story of innovation, and reminding us that the state is often not just helping innovation happen. It may be doing far more to shape what gets innovated in the first place.
A shout-out to Swaraj for introducing me to Mazzucato’s work and prompting me to think about these questions!
A small disclaimer: this Bell is based on my limited readings and understanding of her work and is by no means an exhaustive account of her ideas.
EVENTS
1. WIPO Webinar: Manage International Design Protection in Practice – Handling Different National Requirements Under the Hague System
15 October 2026 | 4 – 5 PM Geneva time | Virtual
The webinar will offer a practical overview of navigating national requirements under the Hague System. Through examples, participants will learn about the roles of the International Bureau and national offices, substantive examination in some jurisdictions, preparing reproductions and descriptions, product indications and claims, filing multiple designs in one application, responses to refusals, and divisional applications.
More info | Register here
2. Webinar: Putting Economics at the Center | Munich’s New SEP Guidelines
Date: 21 October 2026 | 6:00 PM IST | Online
OxFirst Club is hosting a webinar on the new FRAND Guidelines issued by the Munich I Regional Court, focusing on the economic assessment of fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing terms. The discussion will cover comparable licences, royalty ranges, top-down calculations, patent portfolio strength, patent counting, geographical differences and the economic evidence required in SEP disputes.
More info | Register here
OPPORTUNITIES
1. Consultant – Patent Policy Review | WIPO
Application Deadline: 19 October 2026, 4 PM (GMT+2)
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is seeking a consultant to support its Legislative and Policy Advice Section in reviewing, completing and streamlining advisory papers and policy briefs on selected issues of substantive patent law and related areas of technology law. The assignment involves legal and comparative research and analysis to identify relevant international obligations, available policy choices, and their legal, institutional and practical implications. Interested applicants must express their interest and submit an application through the WIPO e-Sourcing platform before the deadline.
More info
2. PhD Positions at the Institute for Information Law (IViR), University of Amsterdam
Application Deadline: 2 November 2026
The Institute for Information Law (IViR) is inviting applications for two PhD positions: Systemic Actors and the Enforcement of Digital Rules, which examines how law and enforcement can engage systemic actors in the digital economy, and Access, Actors and Accountability: The Role of Researchers in AI Governance, which explores the role of researchers in AI governance, the legal exceptions and safeguards they need, and their interactions with policymakers, regulators, civil society and companies.
More info
3. Call for Applications: Albrecht Mendelssohn Bartholdy Graduate School of Law, University of Hamburg
Application Deadline: 14 December 2026
The Albrecht Mendelssohn Bartholdy Graduate School of Law invites applications from outstanding graduates across disciplines for its structured, interdisciplinary doctoral programme in legal studies. The three-year programme supports research across all areas of law and leads to a PhD in Law. Scholarships and academic support are available. Applications for the April 2027 intake must be submitted through the application form.
More info
Shout out to Ambika, Daanish and Niharika for the leads!
All non-sponsored listings featured here are events or opportunities free or nominally charged and ones we think our readers may be interested in. Sponsored listings will be marked as such. Unless specifically mentioned, SpicyIP has no affiliation to anything listed here. Know of an event worth sharing? Write to us at contact[at]spicyip[dot]com.
