Trade & Development
Innovation systems and legal frameworks operate on an international scale. I am an expert on the effects of global trade governance on intellectual property laws, policies, and real-world practices. Particularly passionate about Africa, I am working to ensure that international institutions and agendas are designed to promote economic growth as well as human development for more just and inclusive societies.

Featured Articles
Knowledge and Innovation in Africa: Scenarios for the Future
The question is not whether IP rights will be relevant in the future, but rather which rights will be most important…
Intellectual Property and Innovation: Collaborative Dynamics in Africa
These case studies show how IP can aid collaborative innovation systems if policymakers prioritise…
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Latest Articles
Trade, IP, and Innovation: Lessons from COVID-19
This chapter addresses intersections among international trade law, intellectual property rights, and domestic innovation policies to prevent, detect, and treat pandemics.
CETA Shows Canada’s Need for an IP Strategy
My CETA testimony to the Senate Committee on International Trade highlighted how Canada can learn from the failure to strategize about intellectual property.
All Articles
Trade, IP, and Innovation: Lessons from COVID-19
This chapter addresses intersections among international trade law, intellectual property rights, and domestic innovation policies to prevent, detect, and treat pandemics.
CETA Shows Canada’s Need for an IP Strategy
My CETA testimony to the Senate Committee on International Trade highlighted how Canada can learn from the failure to strategize about intellectual property.
Best Practices for Intellectual Property in International Trade Deals
Intellectual property provisions in international agreements should not be negotiated secretly, but transparently…
Innovation Appropriation: A Role for IP in the Informal Sector?
I was in Geneva recently to participate in a special session about innovation, IP, and the informal economy…
Knowledge and Innovation in Africa: Scenarios for the Future
The question is not whether IP rights will be relevant in the future, but rather which rights will be most important…
Intellectual Property and Innovation: Collaborative Dynamics in Africa
These case studies show how IP can aid collaborative innovation systems if policymakers prioritise…
Parallel Imports Are Not Counterfeits: Trademark and Copyright Laws Should Distinguish
Parallel imports are not pirated goods nor counterfeit products. Rather, they are genuine articles sold in another country with the authority of the intellectual property rights owner. Parallel imports help to prevent geographic price discrimination. They are one way of encouraging pricing parity across borders, and an essential aspect of free trade.
Informal Sector Innovation and IP: Concepts, Metrics, and Policy Considerations
How does innovation happen in the informal sector? To answer these questions our interdisciplinary framework…
International Trade in Biofuels: Legal and Regulatory Issues
Governments around the world are betting heavily on biofuels as one part of a solution to a wide range of public policy challenges, from environmental sustainability in the face of climate change, to energy security given rising geopolitical instability, to economic growth especially in rural regions and developing countries....
Intellectual Property Issues in CETA: The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement
The Canada-EU Trade Environment Technology Exchange, a project led by Jeremy de Beer and Debra Steger Key intellectual property issues being negotiated in the Canada-EU CETA may be hard to implement, given the constitutional law governing Canada’s federal system. In “Implementing International Trade Agreements in Federal Systems” I explain...