Ownership shapes how we organise resources, assign rights, and understand value. As society evolves, new forms of ownership will continue to emerge, raising complex legal, technological, and ethical questions that will affect us all.
From your DNA to your data, ownership is being redefined. Leading experts from academia, government, and industry explored the evolving legal, ethical, and technological frontiers of one of society's most fundamental concepts. The Future of Ownership brought together diverse perspectives on copyright, blockchain, patents, land ownership and privacy law for a forward-looking conversation about who controls what, and why it matters.
Nature of Ownership
"Economic models fall short because they rarely recognize that defining property rights is not only an issue of economic efficiency. There is enormous concern about moral and political issues... We did not end slavery because it was unprofitable. We ended slavery because of changes in morality.” - Prof. Jean-Laurent Rosenthal, Professor of Business Economics, Caltech
Indigenous Data Sovereignty
"Free, prior and informed consent is individualistic. It ignores the intergenerational nature of Indigenous knowledge systems. It ignores our dual accountabilities — to protect the knowledges bestowed on us by the ancestors and to preserve and increase them for generations to come." – Prof. Maggie Walter, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, University of Tasmania
Intellectual Property
"There's no point having human rights if we don't have humankind... What can possibly solve those challenges and ensure we don't become extinct? It's the products of the human intellect, creative and innovative ideas." – Prof. Andrew Christie, Chair of Intellectual Property, Melbourne Law School
Health Data
“Bodies can't be owned. Yet we're seeing this played out in fascinating ways. The point at which it becomes my data or no longer my data is really interesting to me... consent is absolutely necessary but it's insufficient to govern our data and our biomaterials.” – A/Prof. Megan Prictor, Associate Dean (Juris Doctor, Melbourne Law School
Digital Value and Blockchain
“Value now moves at the speed of the internet. We're digitizing traditional views of value. The system that we have built for a non-digitized world has failed us. We need to reimagine what privacy looks like and what digital value in that context looks like." – Steve Vallas, CEO, Blockchain APAC
Disclaimer: The event summary and podcast were AI-generated and reviewed by the Melbourne Connect team. While every effort has been made to reflect the event faithfully, some nuance may be lost in summarisation.
