By Elizabeth J. Kuuttila
President and CEO, STC.UNM
Few New Mexicans would argue that change has not been good for the New Mexico economy. Unemployment is down, personal incomes are up, and New Mexico is among the few states with a budget surplus.
However, we must be careful that we not be misled to believe that all change is, in fact, positive progress. And, we must be diligent in helping our representatives in Washington make wise choices— choices that foster changes that move us forward but reject changes that erode the foundation for our recent and continued success.
Key among the many factors contributing to New Mexico's impressive economic gains is the growth we've experienced in high wage sectors of the economy including biotechnology, aviation, high-tech manufacturing, renewable energy and film production.
Whether it is the discovery of a life-saving therapy, the development of a sustainable way to generate power or the creation of a film, all these activities have a common thread— they are based not on a thing but on a thought. With the growth of these sectors New Mexico is becoming a "knowledge-economy," an economy for which innovation and entrepreneurialism are the keys to success.
America's founders foresaw the value of innovation and entrepreneurialism when they explicitly spoke to the creation of a patent system in the U.S. Constitution. Innovation requires two things— ideas and courage. Patents allow ideas to be shared without the threat of theft. Patents also reward the courage needed to pursue those ideas by granting innovators and the investors who back them with a limited period of market exclusivity.
New Mexico's leaders have similarly encouraged innovation and entrepreneurialism that is fostering a robust infrastructure for the creation of start-up companies.
We have a rich technology base in our universities and national laboratories. The state has committed over $355 million in the investment in venture capital and start-up companies. A recent survey of venture capital activity in New Mexico shows investments this year have jumped 500 percent in comparison with last year. Venture capital firms invested $93.3 million into 11 New Mexico companies in the first half of 2007. New Mexico has been cited in recent studies as being one of the top states in the nation in terms of its climate for entrepreneurship.
What New Mexico has done is impressive. Without robust protection for the ideas of New Mexico's innovators and early stage investors, however, it may be in vain.
Congress is currently considering a wholesale restructuring of the U.S. patent system. Though some updating of the patent system may be in order, an overhaul that creates uncertainty, that significantly weakens patent protections, and that lessens the potential penalties for violating patents would be very detrimental.
The Patent Reform Act of 2007 would erode the footing on which much of New Mexico's recent growth and plans for the future have been built.
The U.S. patent system is the strongest in the world. It is integral to the long-term economic success of our nation and state. Changes that improve the quality of patents and modernize the patent system are welcome, but not all changes take us in this direction. Congress should carefully consider each proposed alteration of the patent system.
Patents have served us well for more than two centuries. Change for the sake of change is not progress and haste in this arena may make more than waste. It could stop cold the progress New Mexico has made.
STC.UNM is a nonprofit corporation formed in 1995 by the University of New Mexico to protect and transfer faculty inventions to the commercial marketplace.
opinion 
E-mail Story
Print Friendly
