The ever greater role of information as a strategically important resource of economic and social development is intensifying conflicts over regimes of intellectual property that control the access to information and its use. The contention in these conflicts is over the question of which rules for innovation are appropriate. Basically, the issue is the governance of the emerging knowledge society. In order to address the problems of protecting intellectual property pertaining to the development and use of modern biotechnologies, the research unit worked with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (Geneva) to establish a dialogue between transnational pharmaceutical companies, nongovernmental organizations, and international experts about three controversial topics: Access to population data for human genetic research and gene patenting, the use and protection of indigenous people's traditional knowledge, and access to "essential drugs" (e.g., AIDS medicines) in poor developing countries. This project's specific contribution will be to consider the structure of these conflicts and political options as part of a discursive process. What this discourse achieves and what functions it could have in international and transnational governance will be studied in this research unit.