JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Intellectual property (IP) are a significant competitive advantage in the healthcare industry. However, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for open innovation and collaboration for the greater good. Despite this, the industry faces challenges with innovation due to organizational and departmental barriers. A secure platform is necessary to facilitate IP sharing without compromising the rights of IP owners.

Objective:

This paper proposes a blockchain-based framework to secure intellectual property transactions in healthcare and bring social impact.

Methods:

This study reviews existing research, publications, practical cases, firm and organization websites, and conferences related to blockchain technology, blockchain in healthcare, blockchain in IP management, and IP pledge fields research and practice of IP management blockchain. Based on the literature and practices, we build a platform to facilitate ART share and integration. The platform architecture has six components: pledgers, advanced research technology (ART), IP pledge platforms, IP databases, healthcare research, seeking ART, and transaction condition setting. These components work together seamlessly to support the sharing and pledging of ART and knowledge while ensuring the platform's transparency, security, trust, and address healthcare issue.

Results:

The open IP Pledge framework can promote technology dissemination and utilization, reduce R&D costs, foster collaboration, and serve the public interest. Medical organizations' leadership and support and active participation from stakeholders are necessary for success. By leveraging blockchain technology, the platform ensures tamper-proof and transparent transactions and protects the rights of IP owners. Additionally, the platform offers incentive mechanisms through pledge tokens that encourage stakeholders to share their ART and contribute to the platform.

Conclusions:

Overall, the proposed framework can facilitate technological innovation, tackle various challenges, and secure intellectual property transactions. It provides a secure platform for stakeholders to share their IP without compromising their rights, promoting collaboration and progress in the healthcare industry. The framework's implementation has the potential to revolutionize the industry's approach to innovation, allowing for a more open and collaborative environment driven by the greater good.