The New York Times highlighted the concept of ” environmental patents to the commons,” which essentially means that anyone may use them at no cost.  Dr. Sarah Slaughter, coordinator of the M.I.T. Sloan Sustainability Initiative said in the interview, “We all want to save the planet, and the problems are bigger than any one firm, sector or country.” 

As such,  “several major corporations have taken inspiration from the open-source software movement and are experimenting with forums for sharing environmentally friendly innovations and building communities around them.

“The first such effort, the Eco-Patent Commons, was started in January 2008 by I.B.M., Nokia, Pitney Bowes and Sony in collaboration with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

While the effort is noble, the article acknowledges that “Both the Eco-Patent Commons and the Green Xchange pose organizational challenges for participating companies.

“ ‘Deciding which patents to pledge or license to a commons,’” says Andrew King, a professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, “’requires that the legal counsel, R.& D. staff, business unit and corporate sustainability groups all work together, and most organizations just aren’t set up for that.’”

Further concern about the working together concept is the recent report from an MIT survey which points out a lack of clear planning.   Will this become a chicken and egg debate?  First legal and then research and development?  Or vice versa?  From the concept of patents, it appears that a new model is waiting in the wings.

In October “the MIT Sloan Management Review has released a comprehensive survey of sustainability practices and trends in business, including interviews, case studies, and insights into how businesses world-wide view the growing field.  One of the most baffling results from your survey is that while 92% of respondents said their company was “addressing sustainability in some way,” 70% said they still had not developed a clear business case for it. MIT Sloan Review releases comprehensive survey on “The Business of Sustainability”

Copyright 2009 Rita Watson