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UC Davis to Host PIPRA

Starting in July 2004, the University of California, Davis will host PIPRA. UC Davis provides an outstanding environment for the start-up of the new organization that will support the development and implementation of PIPRA's activities to facilitate access to agricultural innovations for humanitarian purposes and specialty crops.

Dr. Alan Bennett, currently Executive Director of the Office of Technology Transfer in the Office of the President of the University of California, will serve as the interim Executive Director of PIPRA for a one year period beginning in July 2004. He will be responsible for the organizational development of PIPRA.

UC Davis and Dr. Bennett were selected from an impressive set of proposals and applications submitted to a Request for Proposals and a Position Announcement issued by PIPRA in November 2003. For more information on the selection process, please contact Rex Raimond of Meridian Institute by phone (970-513-8340) or email (rraimond@merid.org).

Publications

PIPRA publication in Science. An article about PIPRA, written by 14 presidents and chancellors of participating institutions, appeared in Science on July 11, 2003. For more information, click here.

Analysis of Public-Sector IP published in Nature Biotechnology. An important analysis of the structure of IP assignment in agbiotech indicates benefits from public-sector collaboration. For more information on this recent publication by Graff et al. in Nature Biotechnology, click here.

PIPRA and others in Plant Physiology. A December 2003 publication in Plant Physiology describes a number of organizations, including PIPRA, that have begun to address new approaches to inform researchers about the intellectual property landscape impacting agricultural biotechnology and to design strategies that will improve access to intellectual property, particularly for humanitarian purposes. A copy of the paper is available by clicking here.

Public Statements on PIPRA. Statements from several stakeholders are available as a starting point for those seeking information on different perspectives regarding the complex issues PIPRA seeks to address.

A news release and statements from several stakeholders are available as a starting point for those seeking information on multiple perspectives regarding the complex issues PIPRA is starting to address.

Statement from Dr. Richard C. Atkinson, President of the University of California.

Statement from Dr. Gordon Conway, President of the Rockefeller Foundation.

Statement by Dr. Charles E. Young, President of the University of Florida.

Statement by Dr. Roger N. Beachy, President of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center

Statement from Dr. Per Pinstrup-Andersen, H.E. Babcock Professor of Food, Nutrition, and Public Policy at Cornell University, World Food Prize Laureate and former Director General of IFPRI.

Statement from Dr. Eugene Terry, Interim Director of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation.

Statement from East West Seeds, a seed company with major operations in South East Asia.

Statement from Dr. Daniel R. Bush, President of the American Society of Plant Biologists.

Resolution from the Board for International Food and Agriculture Development (BIFAD), an advisory board on agricultural development priorities to the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Additional statements will be added to this page as they become available.