The Intangible Advantage: How Intellectual Property Builds Value

 In today's economy, the most valuable assets are often ideas. From the security features in your wallet to the food on your table, intellectual property rights are the invisible force driving innovation and creating widespread economic value. By providing a framework to protect and monetize inventions, IP does more than just reward creators—it builds businesses, fosters strategic partnerships, and delivers improved, sustainable products that shape our daily lives. 

At a pivotal time for the global economy, the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt for their research on how knowledge fuels long-term growth. A key driver of this process is a strong intellectual property system. By giving inventors control over their creations, IP rights provide the financial incentive to innovate. This protection not only rewards the originators but also ensures that groundbreaking ideas are developed and shared, creating a continuous cycle of improvement that benefits both the inventors and consumers. 

Indeed, in today's economy, the line between physical products and the intangible ideas behind them is increasingly blurred. The value of a modern car, for instance, comes as much from its patented software and hardware as from its metal and glass. This fusion of the tangible and intellectual is everywhere, even in a simple carton of milk. Its longevity on a store shelf is thanks to aseptic packaging—a technology patented by the Rausing family. This intellectual property not only created a massive industry but also keeps delivering everyday value to consumers, ensuring that milk is safe and readily available.  

Protected ideas are becoming the new currency of economic growth, constantly flowing between industries to build complex value chains. Intellectual property, particularly patents, is actively traded, used to boost a company's market value, and pooled to accelerate development. This ecosystem transforms a single invention into licensable assets, allowing multiple sectors to build upon it. For the original creators, this system provides the financial reward and freedom to continue innovating. We now live in a knowledge-based economy where these protected ideas do more than drive profit—they solve pressing global problems and generate widespread economic value that benefits both creators and society, as the following examples demonstrate. 

How banknote printers protect both currency and commerce 

When discussing value, we must start with what has symbolized worth for centuries: cash. It remains an essential pillar of economic stability, especially in uncertain times when digital systems can fail due to conflicts, blackouts, or natural disasters. Now more than ever, banknotes require absolute public confidence in their value and security, as counterfeiters continue to arm themselves with advanced technology and easy access to genuine currency. This reality forces banknote manufacturers into a technological arms race, where they must relentlessly innovate to stay ahead. In this high-stakes field, intellectual property rights are not about creating a monopoly or silo mentality; they are a tool of economic security. Protecting these cutting-edge inventions is what preserves the integrity of a nation's currency and the public's confidence in every transaction. 

The French firm Oberthur Fiduciaire and its numerous patents exemplify this, with its Anima™ feature standing as a clear illustration of how intellectual property creates tangible value. Anima™ is a patented, micro-optical thread that uses integrated lenses combined with advanced high-resolution printing, providing a simple yet powerful tool for anyone to instantly verify a banknote's authenticity. The economic and security value of such a breakthrough is entirely dependent on robust legal protection. The sophisticated formula and interactive behavior of Anima™ are what set it apart from common, easily counterfeited inks. This competitive edge and the public trust it fosters can only be maintained as long as the invention is legally preserved. Intellectual property rights provide that essential shield, creating an asset that allows Oberthur Fiduciaire to recoup its significant R&D investments. This cycle of protected innovation funds the next generation of security features, ensuring that the currency in our wallets remains secure and upholding the integrity of the entire financial system for both the issuer and the public. 

At that, while its core patents protect national currencies from counterfeiting, the company has also found a way to monetize its innovations beyond cash. A prime example is Bioguard, an anti-pathogen technology originally developed for banknotes. Its efficiency was additionally proved during the COVID-19 pandemic, and this prompted Oberthur Fiduciaire to license it for use on high-touch public surfaces like subway handrails and hospital equipment. This strategy highlights the dual benefit of IP rights in this secretive industry: they safeguard a nation's financial security while simultaneously allowing companies to spin off non-essential technologies. This creates new revenue that funds further innovation, delivering economic benefits for the creator and practical, life-improving products for the public. 

Leveraging IP rights to build local health capacity 

It’s not just Bioguard that went widespread during the pandemic. The virus and its consequences ushered in a new era of biomedical innovation, demonstrating the role of intellectual property in motivating rapid drug development. However, the traditional model of patent protection can sometimes limit global access to new medicines, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. To address this, global institutions have developed innovative frameworks that work within the IP system. A central case is the Medicines Patent Pool, established by the United Nations. Rather than undermining patent rights, the pool creates a streamlined "one-stop shop" for licensing drug patents. This approach reduces costly negotiations for manufacturers, accelerating the production of generic medicines for underserved populations. By balancing the economic rights of inventors with the public's health needs, this mechanism helps ensure that the value created by intellectual property reaches a global audience. 

A latest sublicensing agreement in this framework is set to transform medical diagnostics in Nigeria by enabling the local production of advanced rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs). Originated from a 2023 licensing deal between SD Biosensor company and the Medicines Patent Pool, the agreement's goal is to close the healthcare access gap by transferring patented technology and know-how to qualified local manufacturers. In 2025, the Nigerian company Codix Bio entered the program and secured the rights to manufacture RDTs using SD Biosensor’s patented technology. The tests have no alternative in the Nigerian market—they are highly sensitive, easy to use in clinics without any additional equipment, and can deliver a reliable result in just 20 minutes for a range of diseases, beginning with HIV and extending to malaria and syphilis.  

This partnership demonstrates how intellectual property can be strategically shared to generate both economic and public health value. For Codix Bio, the licensed IP provides the foundation for a sustainable business, fostering local manufacturing capacity and creating skilled jobs. The company regards the technology as a strategic tool for growth. The IP rights provide the legal framework for a civilized and collaborative model of development. It allows the company to build a sustainable business, respond to local health priorities, and increase its economic value. For the public, it offers faster, more accessible, and affordable testing for a range of diseases, all while ensuring that vital medical products are neither monopolized nor pirated, demonstrating that intellectual property can be an engine for both commerce and equitable progress. 

Sustainable protein built on a protected process 

Yet another invention that fosters collaboration while protecting IP rights relates to a different industry that is now undergoing major changes. A surge of innovation is reshaping the global food production, as startups race to create sustainable alternatives to traditional meat, dairy, and seafood proteins. This shift, driven by climate concerns and resource limits, is backed by solid intellectual property. In Europe alone, patents for alternative proteins have skyrocketed by 960% in the last decade, according to the Good Food Institute Europe. One of the leaders in this field is Germany, home to our next example: a company using IP rights to turn industrial waste into valuable food ingredients, creating economic value from an unexpected source. 

The latter sentence might not sound too appetizing, yet the result is a culinary breakthrough. German startup ProteinDistillery has created Prew:tein, a protein from brewer's yeast that matches the taste and nutrition of traditional animal protein. Their patented process leverages microorganisms to create a highly efficient, sustainable ingredient. The environmental benefits are notable: producing Prew:tein uses 400 times less land and 250 times less water than beef. For consumers, the value is in the product's performance. With a protein content over 75% and a digestibility score equal to egg whites, it enhances plant-based meats, dairy alternatives, and baked goods, giving the company’s partners a sustainable ingredient to build better-tasting, more nutritious foods. 

ProteinDistillery harnessed the ancient power of fermentation, but with a modern, patented twist. This allowed the German startup to create the functional protein, setting it apart in a crowded alternative food market. By legally protecting its purification process, the company secured its innovative method. This IP protection fosters collaboration, not just secrecy. For instance, ProteinDistillery partnered with engineering firm Netzsch to co-develop advanced equipment for its new production plant, a move made possible because its core technology was secure. For ProteinDistillery, intellectual property is the key business asset. It provides the legal "moat" that attracts investors, enables strategic partnerships with major food brands, and protects the company's ability to profit from its sustainable breakthrough, ensuring its invention delivers value to both the company and its future customers. 

From the secure printing of currency to the creation of sustainable food and essential medicines, these examples illustrate a consistent theme. Intellectual property rights, when applied thoughtfully, provide a structured framework that supports meaningful innovation. They enable companies to secure a fair return on their research, which in turn fosters further development and strategic partnerships. This balanced approach helps build capable local industries and delivers practical, improved products—from safer money and better food to accessible medical tests—demonstrating how protected ideas can contribute to steady economic progress and wider public benefit.