Every Lightbulb Moment starts with an individual human being, going through its creative process. But that does not mean it is an individual process. As Newton said, he stood on the shoulders of giants. Is our current system and philosophy on intellectual property imposing unnecessary restrictions and holding back our collective creativity? With decades of research into the politics of the arts, Joost takes the stand that we should abolish copyright. Joost will speak about the current status of intellectual property and suggest a potential other way of supporting and rewarding creativity and invention as a society. Dr. Joost Smiers is a Professor (em.) of Political Science of the Arts, Research Fellow in the Research Group Arts & Economics at the Utrecht School of the Arts, the Netherlands, and formerly visiting professor, Department of World Arts and Cultures, UCLA, Los Angeles, and Director of Research at the Utrecht School of the Arts.

He has written, lectured all over the world and researched extensively in the areas of decision-making in cultural matters worldwide, new visions on a world without copyright and the public domain, freedom of expression versus responsibility, cultural competition policy, the income of artists and their entrepreneurs, European cultural policy, Unesco’s Convention on Cultural Diversity, and cultural identities (plural). This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx