Pre-Patent Intellectual Integrity Framework (PPIIF)

by Lotharin Ciras News, Economics, Governance, Justice, Projectson Posted on

Global Protection of Ideas at the Inception Stage

  • project name : PPIIF
  • project number: CIR_2506xxxx
  • project start: may 2025
  • project manager: Lothar Hartmann, Thorsten Schmitt

Statement from Lothar Hartmann

Director of Science, CIRAS – Centers for International Research and Applied Science

“The Pre-Patent Intellectual Integrity Framework (PPIIF) represents a paradigm shift in how we recognize and protect human ingenuity. In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, the value of an idea begins the moment it is conceived—not when it is finally patented.

As Director of Science at CIRAS, I see PPIIF as a foundational instrument to democratize innovation, especially for researchers, students, indigenous creators, and visionaries in underrepresented regions. For the first time, intellectual sovereignty is possible without delay, bureaucracy, or financial barriers.

By integrating decentralized technologies with ethical and legal safeguards, PPIIF offers more than protection—it provides recognition, empowerment, and global visibility to inventors of all backgrounds. It aligns directly with our scientific mission: to foster responsible, inclusive, and collaborative discovery across disciplines and borders.

PPIIF is not just a framework—it is the future of intellectual equity. It ensures that the ideas shaping tomorrow can be safely nurtured today.”

Abstract

In a global context where knowledge moves faster than regulation, the Pre-Patent Intellectual Integrity Framework (PPIIF) is designed to provide international legal protection for ideas before they can be patented or formally disclosed. Administered by CIRAS, the PPIIF will function as a distributed, ethical, and decentralized system that ensures proof of originality, ownership, and authorship for innovators worldwide. This framework democratizes innovation by offering cost-free legal recognition for creators in all regions—particularly those without institutional IP support.

Research Objectives

  1. Develop a universal proof-of-conception protocol recognized by partner institutions, universities, and eventually IP bodies.
  2. Design a technological infrastructure for timestamping and indexing conceptual innovation across disciplines.
  3. Facilitate cross-border collaborations based on protected, attributed intellectual entries.
  4. Provide creators with legal leverage to negotiate licensing or funding based on idea recognition, even before full patentability.
  5. Promote equitable access to innovation protection regardless of geographical or economic barriers.

Methodology (Expanded)

Phase 1 – Legal & Ethical Infrastructure (2025–2026):

  • Conduct jurisdictional mapping in collaboration with universities in Kenya, Brazil, India, and Finland to analyze overlaps in national idea protection laws.
  • Define a “Concept-Level Intellectual Protection” (CLIP) standard in partnership with legal scholars from CIRAS Justice and Governance Centers.
  • Launch a CIRAS-led Ethics Roundtable to address concerns regarding AI-generated IP, indigenous knowledge, and youth innovation.

Phase 2 – Technological Development (2026–2027):

  • Develop the CIRAS IdeaLedger, a quantum-safe, verifiable ledger using decentralized identifiers (DIDs), embedded authorship metadata, and encrypted semantic indexing.
  • Allow submission via a global web platform and mobile app, with support for multi-language idea descriptions, audio uploads, and sketch-based submissions.
  • Partner with technology incubators in Africa, Asia, and South America to pilot submissions from grassroots inventors.

Phase 3 – Global Rollout and Policy Integration (2027–2028):

  • Collaborate with WIPO Green, UNESCO, and regional innovation agencies to integrate PPIIF into science and tech diplomacy frameworks.
  • Organize regional PPIIF summits with innovation councils in Chile, Nigeria, and Vietnam to promote adoption.
  • Implement recognition APIs that allow universities and IP registrars to verify entries on the CIRAS IdeaLedger as legally timestamped and attributed.

Expanded Examples of Use Cases

✅ Example 1 – Youth Inventor in Rural India

A 16-year-old from Maharashtra submits a prototype idea for a low-cost solar water purifier. With limited access to formal patent systems, the inventor uses the CIRAS platform to protect her idea through a narrated video and diagram upload. Her school science fair submission is later picked up by a CIRAS partner NGO, and with idea attribution secured, she receives a scholarship and mentorship through the CIRAS Innovation Fellowship.

✅ Example 2 – AI-Assisted Design in Germany

A CIRAS member researcher in Berlin develops an AI-powered microgrid optimizer for urban resilience. Since the AI co-generates components, the researcher logs the conceptual framework and co-authorship with the AI model under PPIIF, navigating intellectual rights in emergent human-machine collaborations. This case sets a precedent for CIRAS’s ethical guidelines on non-human co-authorship.

✅ Example 3 – Indigenous Knowledge in the Amazon Basin

A CIRAS-affiliated team documents an indigenous method for natural mosquito repellent derived from local flora. Rather than formal patenting, the idea is protected through collective recognition under the community’s name, linked to CIRAS’s Justice and Environment Centers. It prevents exploitation while opening paths for ethical commercial collaboration.

✅ Example 4 – CleanTech Start-up in Kenya

A Nairobi-based social enterprise proposes a pay-as-you-go smart battery pack for microgrid users. The technical design is not yet finalized, but the idea is submitted to CIRAS for timestamped protection. Later, the verified entry is used as evidence to secure pre-seed funding, and the startup partners with CIRAS’s Infrastructure Center for scaling in East Africa.

✅ Example 5 – Fashion-Tech Innovation in Italy

A Milan-based designer develops a concept for biodegradable wearable sensors embedded in textiles for climate feedback. Her idea is stored in the CIRAS ledger and later cited in a collaborative research grant proposal between CIRAS’s Arts, Health, and Environment Centers.

Expected Results (Expanded)

  • +50,000 entries registered in the CIRAS IdeaLedger within the first two years.
  • +200 partnerships established with global universities, innovation hubs, and national R&D ministries.
  • Legal standing or policy support in at least 10 countries for using PPIIF entries as pre-patent evidence.
  • Increase of 40% in protected innovations from underrepresented groups, including women, youth, and indigenous communities.
  • Generation of a global open-access repository of concepts that enables ethical collaboration while preserving attribution.

Deep Impact for CIRAS

PPIIF enhances CIRAS’s role as a global custodian of intellectual justice, extending protection and empowerment to innovators often excluded from conventional systems. It amplifies CIRAS’s reputation across:

  • Education: Equipping students and scholars to publish protected concepts as academic output.
  • Justice: Addressing historical knowledge theft and empowering local knowledge keepers.
  • Economics: Enabling fair licensing, revenue sharing, and decentralized innovation markets.
  • Science & Technology: Fostering innovation without fear of exploitation or premature disclosure.

This initiative will also allow CIRAS to establish:

  • A Global Observatory on Concept Recognition & Digital Ethics,
  • An Annual Innovation Sovereignty Index, measuring global equity in IP ecosystems,
  • Regional Innovation Sanctuaries, where ideas can be cultivated securely in ethical, collaborative environments.

Benefits for Member States and Institutions

  • Intellectual Security: National research institutes can use PPIIF as a default pre-registration mechanism to protect early-stage state-sponsored research.
  • Cultural Equity: Countries can promote the protection of folklore, ancestral knowledge, and community designs within legal and ethical frameworks.
  • International Influence: Active participation allows member states to shape global norms around intellectual sovereignty.
  • Talent Retention: Innovators no longer need to migrate to patent-accessible regions to protect their work.
  • Capacity Building: Training programs and digital infrastructure supported by CIRAS enhance local innovation systems.

Conclusion

By embedding idea-level recognition into global research, education, and innovation ecosystems, the Pre-Patent Intellectual Integrity Framework makes CIRAS a pioneering institution in the ethics of intellectual emergence. It ensures that vision precedes valuation, and that every creative spark—regardless of location or language—can be dignified, protected, and shared under fair conditions.

In a future where ideas will be the currency of planetary solutions, PPIIF offers the safe, ethical, and equitable vault where these ideas can begin.