UN's World Intellectual Property Organization: First-Ever Figures on Value of "Intangible Capital" in Manufactured Goods: $5.9 Trillion

- A groundbreaking new study by the World Intellectual Property Organization gives the first figures ever to be publicly released on the value of "intangible capital," such as branding, design and technology, in manufactured goods. This report by WIPO, a UN agency based in Geneva, Switzerland, shows that intangible capital in manufactured goods accounted for about $5.9 trillion in 2014, contributing twice as much as buildings, machinery and other forms of tangible capital. This underscores the growing use of the intellectual property tools that protect intangible and related assets in the worldwide economy. The "World Intellectual Property Report 2017: Intangible Capital in Global Value Chains" (WIPR 2017) looks at how much income accrues to labor, tangible capital and intangible capital in global value chain production across all manufacturing activities, representing one quarter of total global economic output, with case studies focusing on coffee, solar panels and smartphones. "Intangible capital will increasingly determine the fate and fortune of firms in today's global value chains. It is behind the look, feel, functionality and general appeal of the products we buy and it determines success in the marketplace," said WIPO Director General Francis Gurry. "Intellectual property, in turn, is the means by which companies secure the competitive advantage flowing from their intangible capital." Other WIPR 2017 findings include: Read the full press release.