The Nobel Prize awarded to Mokyr, Aghion and Howitt emphasises the link between innovation, growth and protection of ideas. A few days ago, the Bank of Sweden announced that the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics was being awarded to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt “for having explained innovation-driven economic growth”. Based on different approaches, these three academics showed that economics prosper when new ideas are created, disseminated and, especially, protected.
The Nobel Committee’s statement was clear: “Intellectual property is not just a legal appendage, but an economic infrastructure that transforms knowledge into productivity and well being.”
This is not an empty quote. Aghion and Howitt revolutionised the theory of growth with their “creative destruction” model, according to which progress is not an exogenous phenomenon, but the result of deliberate decisions made by companies and entrepreneurs that invest in innovation. However, these costly and risky investments only thrive in an environment that ensures legal security and temporary return of exclusivity.
This is where industrial property (IP) —patents, trademarks, utility models and designs— come into play, operating as a social contract: society grants the inventor a limited period of exclusivity in exchange for disclosing their knowledge and nourish the public domain. It is the mechanism that provides a balance between private incentive and collective progress.
Joel Mokyr, an economic historian, adds another layer to this narrative: that of cultural context. To do so, sustained growth does not arise from an economic miracle, but rather a “culture of belief in progress” and institutions that make it easier to collect and recombine knowledge. From XVIII century artisan workshops to artificial intelligence laboratories, progress shares a single guiding principal: the formation of ideas and protecting those who dare innovate.
Beyond Nobel Prizes, we are also seeing this trend in the news in recent months.
Industrial and intellectual property plays a fundamental role in geopolitical agendas when we talk about strategic and technological autonomy. As such, over the last few weeks, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has been modifying its processes to increase control over the technology of other countries that is protected in their territory.
As for South Korea, in October 2025 its Patent Office was promoted to Ministry of Intellectual Property, which is directly dependent on the Prime Minister. The measure, which was celebrated by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), reflects a global trend: IP as a strategic matter of State.
In this context, Spain is consolidating its industrial property ecosystem. Although 2024 brought mixed results, the overall assessment is positive: growth in internationalisation, improvement in administrative efficiency and increase in business knowledge regarding the value of protecting intangible assets.
According to the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (SPTO), national patent applications decreased by 10.9% in 2024 with respect to 2023. However, this decrease is compensated by strong growth in Europe: Spanish inventors filed 2192 applications before the European Patent Office (EPO), representing a 3% increase over the previous year and 44% more than a decade ago.
Spain has taken its time, but it is now starting to embrace what Aghion and Howitt formulated three decades ago: sustained growth comes from incentive to innovate. This incentive was built on institutions that reward creativity, protect investment and promote the dissemination of knowledge. The challenge is great, there needs to be a better connection between research and market, and the strategic use of IP rights needs to increased among SMEs, but the trend is promising.
The 2025 Nobel Prize serves as a reminder: we must incorporate industrial and intellectual property management into the strategic plans of companies and countries.
Written by: Luis Ignacio Vicente del Olmo. Strategic Advisor at PONS IP.
