World Intellectual Property Day

This holiday is established to “celebrate human creativity and the contribution made by authors and inventors to the development of societies throughout the world”.

In the 1970s, intangible assets accounted for 17% of the assets of companies, while today that figure is 85%. The number of industrial property rights applications is growing worldwide year by year. In 2010, there were 6 364 000 and in 2020 that number reached almost 22 million.

It is precisely because of these facts that on this day, April 26, 1970, the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) entered into force. Thirty years later, WIPO member states decided to declare April 26 as World Intellectual Property Day. In explaining this decision, it was stated, among other things, that this international holiday is being established to “celebrate human creativity and the contribution made by authors and inventors to the development of societies throughout the world.”

In the Republic of Serbia, the Ministry of Economy has been competent since 2020 in the field of proposing regulations in the field of intellectual property, and the Institute for Standardization of Serbia protects all adopted standards with intellectual property rights, created by the work of a large number of experts from various fields. Any reproduction or public disclosure of standards or their parts without the Institute's approval is an illegal act.

Today, inventions are a key resource of the European and world economy. Protection of innovations by intellectual property rights is essential for the economic growth and stability of every economy, including ours. The creative industry is, in short, an industry that is based on intellectual property: the music industry, the film industry, publishing, the IT industry, and so on. More than 20 000 registered business entities currently operate in the creative industry in Serbia. In Serbia, the number of startup companies is constantly growing, by an average of 5,2% per year, while when it comes to the creative industry, this growth is much higher - up to 22% per year. Therefore, every young person who seeks a future, for example, in the IT sector, should be aware that he will live precisely from intellectual property.