According to WIPO, many indigenous peoples, local communities and governments are seeking protection of their intellectual property on their traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, as intangible assets. These assets may be extended to medicine and traditional ecological knowledge in the art, symbols, and music.

The genetic resources, as such, are not patentable, but the inventions that rely on these resources may be. The wide use of and the digital transformation of genetic resources for innovation in life sciences generate the need for a unique approach and cross-sectional relationship between intellectual property and genetic resources.