Current models of innovation ignore small-scale technology — institutions must ensure it's a key part of the agenda, says Tony Marjoram.

Efforts to promote sustainable development must tap into technologies developed locally, driven by community needs and priorities.

A growing number of critics of 'bioprospecting' complain that companies often fail to adequately compensate holders of traditional knowledge, and that patents on products developed in this way are actually a form of intellectual piracy.

An important issue raised by current debates on intellectual property rights — particularly in the context of their impact on developing countries — are the consequences that legislation protecting such rights may have for food security.