Every 26 April, the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) marks a day to raise awareness of the role that intellectual property rights play in encouraging creativity.

This year WIPO's focus is on Powering change: Women in innovation and creativity to celebrate the brilliance, ingenuity, curiosity and courage of the women who are driving change in our world and shaping our common future.

Every day women come up with game-changing inventions and life-enhancing creations that transform lives and advance human understanding from astrophysics to nanotechnology and from medicine to artificial intelligence and robotics.

And in the creative sphere, whether in the movies, animation, music, fashion, design, sculpture, dance, literature, art and more, women are re-imagining culture, testing the limits of artistry and creative expression, drawing us into new worlds of experience and understanding.

More than ever before, women are taking up leadership roles and making their voices heard in science, technology, business and the arts. With women and men working together, we strengthen humanity’s hand, and improve our ability to enrich our shared cultural wealth and develop effective solutions to alleviate poverty, boost global health, and safeguard the environment.

The time is ripe to reflect on ways to ensure that increasing numbers of women and girls across the globe engage in innovation and creativity, and why this is so important.

This year’s World Intellectual Property Day celebration is an opportunity to highlight how the intellectual property (IP) system can support innovative and creative women (and indeed everyone) in their quest to bring their amazing ideas to market.

Join the conversation using #worldipday and tell us about the female inventors and creators who are powering change near you!