Competitiveness and Innovation Archives

Business Will Be at the Table in Lead-Up to Global Nutrition Conference

Published on November 15, 2013

28 July 2006, Rome - A general view of FAO Headquarters.USCIB is participating in preparatory meetings for the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2), which will take place in the fall of 2014, at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s headquarters in Rome. The conference will be convened by FAO and the World Health Organization. Helen Medina, USCIB’s senior director for product policy and innovation, sends along the following report from the field.

During the meetings, delegates discussed the lessons learned from implementing nutrition-enhancing policies for the food system, economic development and poverty alleviation. They further debated which policies should be implemented to advance nutrition goals and address challenges such as malnutrition, “over-nutrition,” and non-communicable diseases – including those related to obesity – that are impacting countries at various stages of development.

Medina and other business representatives have met with government delegates from Brazil, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as with David Nabarro, the UN’s special representative on food security. The core business message underscores the private sector’s know-how in the areas of innovation, science and technology, as well as good production and management practices. This expertise can increasingly be harnessed through effective partnerships with research institutions, farmers, policymakers and civil society.

Furthermore, the private sector plays a critical role in further strengthening markets, economic growth and livelihoods, Medina said. While private-sector involvement is key, there is also a need for government collaboration, particularly in helping ensure greater policy coherence, such as reducing barriers to trade.

Initially, USCIB and other business groups were only invited to the first two days of preparatory meetings, but not to the closing session, which takes place today. However, several government delegates and civil society representatives expressed concern at this decision, saying the meeting needed to be inclusive and transparent during the plenary sessions and the overall process.

Medina said many delegates, including those from the Netherlands and Germany, emphasized that a multi-stakeholder approach – including the private sector and civil society – is needed to deal with today’s nutrition challenges, and that these groups should not be excluded from any part of the ICN2 technical discussion or any further talks on the subject.

In response to this strong reaction from the member countries in support for all stakeholders to be included, FAO and WHO reversed their decision and announced Thursday evening that all stakeholders would be able to take part in final discussions to prepare for ICN2.

As business representatives got ready to deliver a statement to the final day of discussions, Medina said the private sector applauded the decision. She said business has worked throughout the meetings to press for ICN2 organizers to develop mechanisms for the private sector to work with other stakeholders to map out a “farm to fork food system,” and to identify ways the private sector can utilize its tools, capabilities and expertise to contribute to advancing global nutrition.

Medina reports that the conference concluded today with a commitment by the FAO and WHO to propose a roadmap leading to ICN2 in November 2014 that will be inclusive of all stakeholders.

Key Results

The Rome meeting, which had the overall goal of preparing for ICN2 next year, reaffirmed the following:

  • ICN2 participants will need to build a common vision for nutrition at all levels.
  • Building institutional capacity and building nutrition as a national priority across all government sectors is needed.
  • Better data is needed for better policy making.
  • Inserting the idea of better nutrition along the value chain is important.
  • Aligning nutrition priorities with the priorities of a government’s food and agriculture system is key.

Steps that can be taken at the national and local level include:

  • Experimenting with different approaches to finding solutions.
  • Government should put emphasis on small scale projects that can be scaled up.

Outcomes of the meeting:

  • Member states have requested that they be more involved in the ICN2 process going forward.
  • In the next several weeks, the WHO/FAO will produce a “road map” for the process going forward.
  • The preparatory meeting did not fully review all the information that has been generated on the topic of nutrition.
  • The ICN2 process needs to take into account all stakeholders including the private sector and civil society.

Staff contact: Helen Medina

More on USCIB’s Food and Agriculture Committee

More on USCIB’s Health Care Working Group

ICC Launches Research Papers on Innovation and Intellectual Property

Published on October 31, 2013

The International Chamber of Commerce unveiled the first in a series of research papers on the interface between innovation and intellectual property (IP) today at a conference in Brazil co-organized by ICC and the Brazilian National Confederation of Industry (CNI).

The series of five research papers will provide insights on how IP interacts with decisions, transactions and processes related to technology development and dissemination.

Daphne Yong-d’Herve, chief intellectual property officer at ICC, said the research project aims to contribute to a better and more concrete understanding of the innovation-IP interface. “An improved understanding of how IP is actually used in innovative processes will help inform discussions taking place today among governments, businesses and other stakeholders on how to design frameworks and measures that will help stimulate innovation and growth,” she said.

The first paper, “Enhancing IP Management and Appropriation by Innovative SMEs,” addresses how innovative small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can improve their performance through better management of their intellectual assets.

Further papers will explore issues relating to: innovation and knowledge exchange through global networks and partnerships, the evolving geography of innovation, IP in innovation for non-commercial purposes, and diffusion channels for technology and know-how.

Read more on ICC’s website.

More on USCIB’s Intellectual Property Committee

USCIB Members Enrich Discussions at Internet Governance Forum

Published on October 25, 2013

4625_image001USCIB co-organized two workshops at the 8th Internet Governance Forum (IGF), which took place October 21-25 in Bali, Indonesia, enabling USCIB members and other stakeholder groups to make important substantive contributions on Internet governance, mobile telephony and use of the cloud in emerging economies, and the economic engine of digital trade.

At the IGF, some 2,000 participants from business, government, civil society and the technical community participated in nearly 250 workshops aimed at exploring such varied topics as the principles of Internet governance and the multi-stakeholder model of governance, the Internet as an engine for growth and sustainable development, and human rights, freedom of expression, and free flow of information on the Internet.

Mobile communications’ expanding reach

On October 22, Jacquelyn Ruff (Verizon Communications), moderated a standing-room-only workshop on “Mobile & Cloud Computing in Emerging Economies.” It featured commentary from speakers representing a broad cross-section of regional and stakeholder interests, including Verena Weber (OECD), Rohan Samarajiva (LIRNEasia) and João Barros (University of Porto, Portugal). The session focused on the developmental promise for emerging economies from mobile telephony and cloud computing capabilities due to their enormous potential in the next five years, when 90 percent of the world population is expected to have access to mobile coverage.

Key points raised at the workshop included:

  • Cloud computing services can be provided in emerging economies at a low cost and an energy-efficient way. However, cloud computing services can only be used if an Internet infrastructure wired or wireless broadband is in place providing a low latency and robust Internet connection to cloud users.
  • Greater efforts have to be made to connect more individuals, businesses, and government agencies to the Internet, so that developing countries can benefit from cloud computing. Another major infrastructure challenge is the lack of electricity or a reliable electricity supply in many regions to move content to the cloud and to run computers.
  • Trust among nations was also underlined as crucial for cloud computing development. Ultimately, though, the customer is key, along with technology, bandwidth, electricity and the need for redundancy or remote location as sources of confidence.

Spotlight on trade barriers

The following day, Richard Beaird (Wiley Rein) moderated another well-attended discussion on “Global Trade, Local Rules, & Internet Governance.” It featured commentary by Joseph Alhadeff (Oracle), vice chair of USCIB’s Information, Communications and Technology Committee, as well as Ruff, Samarajiva, and Sam Paltridge (OECD). The panel focused on the importance of supporting internet-enabled economic growth and how the erection of trade and regulatory barriers can impede such developmental benefits.

Workshop highlights included:

  • The proliferation of smart phones has caused an exponential rise in the use of data, but some solutions aimed at upgrading local telecom networks to meet these demands – adaptations of the sending-party-networks pays (SPNP) approach – work at cross-purposes by creating  unnecessary barriers to content-sharing across borders and operators.
  • Market-driven solutions remain the best approach. In an analysis of phone calls (frequency and duration) made from the U.S. to Africa and India, it was found that the traffic to India has increased tremendously over the last 10 years. This is due to the competitive market forces in India that have driven down termination rates, which at the same time have increased in Africa. Such actions create barriers for communication and trade in Africa.
  • The digital ecosystem is complex and overlapping. A change in one element creates a reaction and possibly a constraint on another aspect. While localized strategies may seem beneficial to an economy (or are security- or capacity-driven), they may in fact have negative effects on innovation and contain an underlying constraint.
  • Active multi-stakeholder discussions are of utmost importance to break the silo effect and create necessary agreements and polices from the trade world that support digital products.

NSA surveillance revelations

According to Barbara Wanner, USCIB’s vice president for information, communications and technology policy, the controversy surrounding revelations of unauthorized surveillance by the U.S. National Security Agency informed much of the commentary of the IGF, particularly in light of new reports of NSA surveillance of countries such as France and Germany. She said that, in the wake of the NSA revelations, Brazil’s recent proposal to host a meeting in May 2014 to consider new ways of Internet governance dominated formal program discussion at the IGF as well as informal “hallway” consultations.

In an October 24 meeting with members of the International Chamber of Commerce’s BASIS (Business Action to Support the Information Society) initiative, which includes USCIB, Brazilian officials said that the conference would include all stakeholders. A goal they would like to see is the development of a set of new principles for governance of cyberspace.

Details concerning the Brazilian initiative changed and evolved throughout the IGF week – and likely will continue to evolve in the coming weeks. ICC-BASIS, USCIB, and other business participants are still assessing what the May conference will mean and how to shape its development. Click here to read more about ICC’s presence in Bali on the ICC website.

Staff contact: Barbara Wanner

More on USCIB’s Information, Communications and Technology Committee

 

USCIB Briefs Senior Executives on Global Product Policy

Published on October 23, 2013

Helen Medina, USCIB’s senior director for product policy and innovation, was the keynote speaker at a recent meeting of senior product stewardship executives organized by the Conference Board, at the headquarters of PPG Industries in Pittsburgh.

Medina addressed emerging global discussions that will impact product stewardship, highlighting our work on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the UN Environment Program’s work on chemicals in products, and OECD discussions of green economy topics.

USCIB is a leader in monitoring and influencing international discussions of chemicals and product policy issues, complementing business advocacy efforts in specific countries.

Staff contact: Helen Medina

More on USCIB’s Product Policy Working Group

Pro-Growth Internet Policies Are Essential Says Global Business

Published on October 11, 2013

4625_image001As governments and other stakeholders prepare for the 8th annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF), which takes place October 22-25 in Bali, Indonesia, business is seeking to highlight why greater collaboration between stakeholder groups – and stronger pro-growth international policies – are needed if the Internet is to remain the world’s primary economic enabler.

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has called for greater efforts to bring about better, more consultative global policy-making, in order to maximize the potential of the Internet to power future economic growth.

“The role the Internet plays today in providing fresh economic opportunity, hope and jobs cannot be underestimated,” said ICC Secretary General Jean-Guy Carrier. “The policy-making community has a shared responsibility to support the Internet in this role by working together to create policy that facilitates new business growth and paves the way for new innovation in business models.”

As part of its focus on the role played by the Internet in job creation and economic growth, ICC’s BASIS (Business Action to Support the Information Society) initiative will highlight the dangers of not doing enough to advance policy that promotes international trade and investment that helps corporations of all sizes as well as individuals capitalize on the opportunities made possible by globalization.

USCIB has played an important role in organizing two workshops at the IGF, featuring members as moderators and panelists. These include a discussion of mobile and cloud computing featuring Jackie Ruff (Verizon), and a workshop on “Global Trade, Local Rules & Internet Governance,” where Ruff will be joined by Richard Beaird (Wiley Rein), Joseph Alhadeff (Oracle) and Barbara Wanner, USCIB’s vice president of ICT policy.

The IGF is being held in South East Asia for the first time, highlighting the important role that the region will play in the future of the Internet.

Click here to read more on ICC’s website.

Staff contact: Barbara Wanner

More on USCIB’s Information, Communications and Technology Committee

The Private Sectors Contributions to Improved Nutrition

Published on September 30, 2013

4608_image001Last week, USCIB submitted comments to the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition on the contribution of the private sector and civil society to improve nutrition. This online consultation will feed into the Second International Conference on Nutrition Preparatory Technical Meeting (November 13-15 in Rome).

In the submission, USCIB stressed that advancing health and nutrition requires a multi-stakeholder approach that reflects the complexities of the issues. There is no quick or simple solution to addressing challenges such as obesity, under-nutrition and disease, we said.  While we believe that the private sector has a role in producing healthy and nutritious food, it is equally important to address issues that impact the community’s ability to thrive such as poverty, hunger, gender inequality, water access and sustainable agriculture.

It is within this context that USCIB shared some examples of programs and approaches that reflect this complex reality. The submission highlights several successful private sector initiatives already in place, including programs by Coca-Cola, CropLife, General Mills, McDonalds, Monsanto, Nestle, and PepsiCo.

“USCIB believes that private-sector know-how in the areas of innovation, science and technology, as well as good production and management practices, can be increasingly harnessed through effective partnerships with research institutions, farmers, policy-makers, and civil society,” according to Helen Medina, USCIB’s senior director for product policy and innovation

“Furthermore, the private sector plays a critical role in further strengthening markets, economic growth and livelihoods. While private sector involvement is key, there is also a need for government collaboration, particularly in helping ensure greater policy coherence, such as reducing barriers to trade.”

The Rome meeting will be a high-level ministerial conference which will seek to propose a flexible policy framework to adequately address the major nutrition challenges of the next decades. It will also seek to identify priorities for international cooperation on nutrition in the near and medium-term.

 

Staff contact: Helen Medina

 

More on USCIB’s Product Policy Working Group

BIAC Consultation on the BEPS Action Plan

Published on September 9, 2013

On October 1, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD (BIAC) will hold an international business consultation on the Base Erosion and Profit Sharing (BEPS) Action Plan together with governments and the OECD Secretariat at the OECD in Paris. The meeting agenda will cover the full BEPS Action Plan, with the aim to provide business input early in the BEPS process. BIAC has launched a BEPS web resource to provide full background information for this important project.

The OECD BEPS Action Plan was endorsed by G20 Finance Ministers on July 19, 2013 in Moscow and subsequently by the G20 governments in Saint Petersburg in September. The Action Plan sets out 15 areas of work to be undertaken across a range of tax issues, including the digital economy, transfer pricing, coherence of corporate income taxation, as well as transparency, certainty and predictability of taxation. The timeline for BEPS is ambitious, aiming for completion by December 2015, and will integrate a number of related on-going OECD projects on fundamental tax issues, among them the definition of permanent establishment, and the transfer pricing of intangibles.

This fall, the BIAC Tax Committee will continue to provide input to the OECD on the entire range of BEPS related issues. BIAC also continues its dialogue on tax with emerging economies, including China, India and Brazil. On October 7-8, BIAC, together with its Brazilian Observer CNI, the National Confederation of Industry of Brazil, will hold a conference on Brazilian and International Tax Issues with the participation of business, the OECD and the Brazilian tax authorities.

Staff contact: Carol Doran Klein

More on USCIB’s Tax Committee

BIAC Nanotechnology Committee to Meet in Washington DC

Published on September 9, 2013

As nanotechnology continues to rapidly develop in a wide range of different sectors, governments, business and international organizations are increasingly focusing on how to stimulate its development while at the same time considering potential environment, health and safety issues.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) advises on emerging policy-relevant issues in science, technology and innovation related to the responsible development and use of nanotechnology, and also addresses the safety of manufactured nanomaterials. It also helps ensure that the approaches for hazard, exposure and risk assessment for manufactured nanomaterials are of a high quality, science-based and internationally harmonized. Since the establishment of the OECD nanotechnology program, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD (BIAC) has been an active partner, including in the OECD Sponsorship Program for the testing of selected manufactured nanomaterials.

As the OECD work continues to expand, the BIAC Nanotechnology Committee will have its annual Committee meeting in Washington, D.C. on September 19-20. The meeting will include a strategic discussion on challenges and opportunities our members encounter at the national or regional level, next steps with regard to the OECD sponsorship program, the future orientations of work related to science, technology and innovation as well as cross-cutting issues and work in other international organizations.

Speakers at the meeting, which will include a review of the first round of U.S.-EU talks under the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, include Rachel Shub, senior director for EU regulatory affairs at the office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and Julia Doherty, USTR’s senior director for technical barriers to trade.

Staff contact: Helen Medina

More on USCIB’s Nanotechnology Committee

US Government Official DeBriefs ICT Policy Committee on Latest ICANN Meeting

Published on September 3, 2013

4583_image002On August 7, Suzanne Radell, the U.S. representative to the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and senior policy advisor at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, met with USCIB’s ICT Policy Committee to discuss the outcome of the ICANN 47, which was held in Durban, South Africa on July 14-18, and its implications for ICANN’s management of the evolving domain name system going forward. In particular, Radell discussed the GAC’s decision to file a formal objection to the ICANN Board against Amazon’s application for the .amazon generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) name – and the U.S. government’s decision to abstain from this objection.

The Internet’s domain-name system (DNS) allows users to refer to web sites and other resources using easier-to-remember domain names — such as www.uscib.org — rather than the all-numeric addresses assigned to each computer on the Internet. The right-most label in a domain name is referred to as its “top-level domain” (TLD). Examples include .com, .org, or .edu. In June 2011, ICANN’s board voted to expand the gTLD program “to enhance competition and consumer choice, enabling the benefits to innovation via the introduction of new gTLDs.” Examples of new gTLDs include company brand names (e.g., .microsoft, .google), sectors (.investments, .loan), or professional services (.architect, .attorney), to name a few. Amazon applied for the .amazon new gTLD as a company brand name.

The objection to Amazon’s application was driven primarily by Brazil, with support from Peru, Venezuela and other Latin American countries that share the Amazon region, on grounds that the Amazon “is a very important cultural, traditional, regional and geographical name.” The objection prompted extensive interventions in the Public Forum component of the ICANN meeting—as well as in media commentary—as intellectual property experts argued that there is no basis in international law for countries to claim ownership of geographic terms. They further urged the ICANN Board to seek counsel about the legality of the GAC’s objection to the .amazon gTLD application. The U.S. government’s abstention on this issue appears to suggest that Washington shares these concerns.

Radell also examined other challenging issues that eluded a GAC consensus in Durban, which could potentially affect USCIB members and will likely dominate the ICANN 48 in Buenos Aires, November 17-21. These include: (1) the protection of Inter-governmental Organization (IGO) acronyms in the domain name system; (2) enhanced safeguard advice for new gTLDs for regulated or professional sectors (e.g., .cash, .health, .doctor); and (3) a decision on whether or not to allow the contracting process to move forward for applicants of so-called “closed” gTLDs, a terms that refers to a new gTLD in which the applicant is the sole registrant for the domain name.

Staff contact: Barbara Wanner

More on USCIB’s ICT Committee

USCIB Weighs in on Nutrition Enhancing Agriculture and Food Systems

Published on August 5, 2013

foodsAccess to high-quality, reliable food supplies is a major challenge for the 21st century. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recently announced that the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2), a high-level ministerial conference to address the major nutrition challenges of the next decades through proposing a flexible policy framework and identifying priorities for international cooperation, will take place in November 2014 at its Rome headquarters.

A preparatory meeting will be held this coming November to identify themes to be addressed at the ICN2 conference. USCIB has contributed to an online FAO discussion to prepare for this fall’s meeting. The discussion, “Nutrition-enhancing agriculture and food systems,” was created to share evidence and exchange views on ways to improve policies, programs, interventions and methods of evaluation for making agriculture and food systems more responsive to nutrition, especially for the poorest and most nutritionally vulnerable.

From the broadest perspective, USCIB recommended that the FAO create a more targeted, formal approach to engaging with stakeholders, including the private sector. We also emphasized:

  • the importance of developing an effective nutrition policy based on scientific evidence
  • the potential for the private sector to contribute to a more nutrition-enhancing food system by innovating and investing in the food and agriculture sector
  • the role of food systems in focusing on food safety, quality and assurance
  • the necessity of preserving natural resources for continued food growth
  • the importance of empowering women and girls, and
  • coordination across government ministries working with the private sector and civil society to create effective and efficient nutrition policies.

On nutrition policy, USCIB emphasized that scientific evidence is necessary for effective interventions, in order to minimize unintended consequences. In this regard, data on each population’s nutrition and food preferences is essential, as are the appropriate institutional arrangements to best support coordination between government, the private sector and civil society in implementing these strategies. Because the private sector is important in achieving a more nutrition-enhancing food system by innovating and investing in the food and agricultural sector, policies that promote innovation and efficiency across the supply chain are necessary to help address future challenges relating to increased policy coherence, as well as constrained resources and greater demand.

USCIB’s submission recommended that nutrition programs focus on the accessibility of safe food products, and that food companies provide the information to ensure safety. Information regarding nutrition education based on scientific evidence should be outlined by international standards to allow consumers to make healthy choices. Socially and economically empowering women and girls is also important, so that they can make educated, healthy choices for their households

On the preservation of natural resources to ensure continued food growth, USCIB urged the FAO to promote food systems that protect natural resources, as well as careful end-to-end management throughout the supply chain to address population increases, climate change and insufficient water availability. In this area, the private sector plays an important role in research and development, innovation and supply chain management. Nestlé’s Rural Development Framework is an example of how the private sector invests in the development of farmers and their livelihood, while Coca-Cola’s Sustainable Agriculture Guiding Principals set expectations for ingredient suppliers to address sustainability challenges specific to agriculture.

On promoting partnership opportunities across sectors, USCIB highlights the work that the food and beverage industry has engaged in with the WHO’s 2004 Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health (Global Strategy), and most recently the WHO Global Action Plan on NCDs (2013-2020) and the monitoring framework. Cooperation between governments and the food and beverage industry is necessary to the adoption of a multi-sector approach to addressing nutrition challenges.

Staff contact: Helen Medina

More on USCIB’s Food and Agriculture Working Group