Technological innovations arguably have an important role to play in addressing global challenges such as poverty, climate change, and the current food crisis. A variety of public policies exist which aim to increase incentives for innovation. Such policies can be broadly classified into two categories: "push" programs and "pull" programs. Push programs subsidize research inputs through means such as government subsidies to universitybased research, or tax credits for research and development (R&D) investments. Pull programs, on the other hand, increase the rewards for developing specific products by committing to reward successful innovations conditional on their development.

This paper discusses various aspects of alternative reward mechanisms that can promote R&D but restrict access to less than "traditional" Intellectual Property Rights systems.