Between protection and dependency: Rethinking IP harmonisation and innovation-driven FDI

This piece reflects the tensions between regional intellectual property (IP) harmonisation and innovation-driven foreign direct investment (FDI) in emerging economies. Rather than offering definitive answers or empirical analysis, it signals the complexity of aligning international IP norms with diverse national innovation ecosystems and their FDI attractiveness. This piece calls attention to critical legal systems theory, dependency theory, the capabilities approach, and innovation systems theory, but it does not claim to fully apply these frameworks on this occasion. It highlights their relevance instead as a preparation for the following research endeavours. Case insights from Chile, Brazil and Vietnam illustrate how harmonisation may reproduce asymmetries and sideline local actors. Therefore, there is no intention to turn this piece into a conclusive study. Instead, it is an invitation to rethink the politics of IP governance and develop a more nuanced, plural, and context-aware research agenda for emerging economies.