On a glorious afternoon recently, I had the good fortune to attend a specially themed Education and Skills Garden Party hosted at Buckingham Palace in London to celebrate the contributions of educators in the United Kingdom and beyond.

As a Canadian citizen living and working in education in the United Kingdom, I was invited to attend by the High Commission of Canada in London.

The occasion provided a relaxing yet exciting opportunity to reflect on my involvement embedding sustainability into education related to innovation and intellectual property (IP) rights law.

Royal Gardens as oasis

King Charles has been a lifelong supporter of sustainability education, which is a new addition to the curricula. For me, the Royal garden and lake beautifully highlighted concerns with sustainability.

The King’s Royal garden at the Palace is an oasis in the city of London, alive with foliage and wildlife that guests may stroll around and explore. According to the event leaflet: “A survey of the Garden by the London Natural History Society revealed a wealth of flora and fauna, some quite rare species.”

Garden parties are a special way for members of the Royal Family to speak to a broad range of people, all of whom have made a positive impact on their community. Today these events are a way to recognize and reward public service.

A network of sponsors is used to invite guests, including lord-lieutenants, societies and associations, government departments and local government, as well as representatives of various churches and other faiths.

Charles first marked the issue of pollution in 1970 when he was a 21-year-old student. The King continues to champion his lifelong passion regarding the importance of the health of the environment and living sustainably.

Why intellectual property and sustainability?

Since 2004, I have been an innovation, intellectual property rights and business law educator. My research group contributed to a publication called The Guide to The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), developed to explore the connections between the United Nation’s 17 SDGs, sustainable development and IP.

Intellectual property is of concern because we need to envision and build a common future with innovation and creativity. How sustainability challenges are overcome depends on the commercialization of new green technology catalysts.

However, this process is complex. Choosing between solar versus wind, or hydro, geothermal or tidal energy technologies involves making difficult choices. IP rights, such as patents, provide practical scientific information about new green technologies. This information helps society to prioritize public, private and alternative financing to support climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Canadian firms have patented numerous climate change mitigation technologies.

For example, the Toronto-based WhalePower has significantly advanced fluid dynamics and has filed Canadian, European Union, United States, Chinese and Indian patents to protect its new technology. Their award-winning invention, inspired by the bumpy flippers of humpback whales, results in more efficient and reliable wind turbine blades.

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This “tubercle” technology, named for a rounded point of a bone, also has applications for hydroelectric turbines and for revolutionizing fan design. These blades, featuring tubercles (bumps) on the leading edge, reduce aerodynamic drag and improve performance. WhalePower also generates revenue by licensing its patented technology to other companies to use in wind turbines.

Patents encourage knowledge sharing

Patents encourage knowledge sharing, because the way the invention works must be disclosed, rather than kept secret.

For example, new tidal energy inventors can read Whalepower’s patents and be inspired to further advance the new technology with additional incremental innovations.

A granted patent is published for free online and digitally tagged using globally recognized classification codes to facilitate easy searching by scientists, investors and financiers. The data collected on the patent register is also used to design new climate innovation research studies and inform policy-making.

In this manner, IP often stimulates investment by providing the legal rights needed to justify longer-term investment in a changing landscape of innovation.

Long-term investment into green technology is a form of environmental stewardship that I discuss in more detail in my article “Companies and UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goal 9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure.” IP rights support firms like Whalepower by enabling knowledge tools that can bring sustainable development goals closer to fruition.

Patent attorneys and Earthshot Prize

The significant role of IP rights in promoting sustainability gained a higher profile when the United Kingdom’s Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA) became an Official Nominator for the annual Earthshot Prize launched by Prince William’s Royal Foundation in 2020.

CIPA helps to identify and nominate solutions for the environmental challenges that the prize aims to address. One nominated solution that uses DNA sequencing and nature’s own colours to create sustainable dyes to reduce the use of water and harmful chemicals in the fashion industry, Colorifix, was a runner-up in the 2023 edition.

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CIPA provides crucial IP rights checks to finalists, ensuring that their innovations have no outstanding IP issues. This partnership is an example of how the Royal Family works together with CIPA to use the power of IP to help solve sustainability challenges.

As the King stated when he was Prince of Wales in 2017: “Mine is not a new commitment, but perhaps you will allow me to restate my determination to join you in continuing to do whatever I can, for as long as I can, to maintain not only the health and vitality of the ocean and all that depends upon it, but also the viability of that greatest and most unique of living organisms — nature herself.”

Janice Denoncourt is affiliated with the British Association for Canadian Studies (BACS)..