Hot off the Presses: Youth Guide on Green Innovation

September 30, 2020

To mark the commencement of the 2020 academic year, WIPO GREEN launches its practical guide to empower youth to advance green innovation: Addressing Climate Challenges with Innovation: WIPO GREEN guide for youth roundtables.

>Photo: Nikada / iStock / Getty Images Plus)

The guide, launched under the auspices of WIPO GREEN’s youth engagement initiative, aims to support youth in using innovation in the climate-crisis response.

Created to facilitate group discussions and inspire action, the guide incorporates theoretical resources and practical tools for using green technologies and intellectual property (IP) to empower youth in their efforts to address climate change.

“Now, more than ever, the world is realizing that youth engagement is an engine for sustainable development,” - says Amy Dietterich, Director of the WIPO’s Global Challenges Division that manages WIPO GREEN. “We are proud to lead the way with our Addressing Climate Challenges with Innovation guide for young people who are interested in learning more about how they can become actively engaged in supporting green innovation. This resource is designed to show youth how IP can be used to benefit people and planet; we hope it will encourage action”.

Endorsements

Pre-launch feedback collected by WIPO GREEN among its partners has been widely positive:

Supporting youth in developing and scaling sustainable technologies is essential for realizing the promise of a green economy. WIPO GREEN's guide for Addressing Climate Challenges with Innovation takes a practical approach to youth empowerment: the guide touches upon several key topics, from how to define green technologies to how to protect your intellectual property rights. In our work at EPFL Tech4Impact we bring together various stakeholders to ensure that technology and innovation go hand in hand with social and environmental impact. We thereby put a particular strong focus on supporting our students in turning their disruptive and impactful ideas into reality. From this point of view, I certainly believe that the guide can be as beneficial for young inventors and engineers as for students and youth who are not yet involved in green innovation.

Dr. Julia Binder, Vice Presidency for Innovation, Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL)

The topic of youth entrepreneurship and green innovation is strongly present in my professional activity. Based on my experience being responsible for Green Jobs for Youth in our education pillar as well as co-leading the Green Jobs for Youth workstream under the UN Decent Jobs for Youth Initiative, I find the practical and IP-centered approach of WIPO GREEN's youth guide particularly useful. The perspective of IP rights is not always addressed when discussing green innovation with youth, and yet it is an essential point. WIPO GREEN's guide is therefore filling an important gap in youth empowerment. UNEP's Education and Youth Unit will include WIPO GREEN's guide into the Unit's upcoming guiding document with contributions from different UN agencies and university partners (UNEP, ILO, UNESCO, SDSN, IAU, US Partnership for ESD, etc.), aimed to help higher education institutions create a workforce better prepared for the green economy.

Mari Nishimura, Associate Programme Management Officer, Education and Youth Unit, Ecosystems Division, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Who is the guide for?

This WIPO GREEN guide for youth roundtables, Addressing Climate Challenges with Innovation, is recommended for:

    • students and young professionals with an interest in climate change
    • students, young innovators and professionals in the fields of technology, engineering, sciences and other related fields
    • young change-makers and environmental advocates
    • middle- to high-level educational institutions, professors and tutors in relevant fields
    • WIPO GREEN partners seeking to develop or enhance their youth engagement efforts

What comes next?

The WIPO GREEN youth engagement initiative, Young and Green, which was launched in August 2020, will host a webinar on best practices and empowerment strategies for youth engagement in sustainable innovation. Speakers from youth-centered organizations and projects will discuss topical issues in youth-driven green innovation, challenges, opportunities and how to support interested youth. Further details will be shared shortly, watch this space!

About WIPO GREEN

WIPO GREEN is a global marketplace for sustainable technology, supporting global efforts to address climate change. Through its online database and regional activities, WIPO GREEN connects green tech seekers and providers in order to catalyze green innovation and accelerate green tech transfer and diffusion.