Intellectual Property, Sustainable Innovation and Legal-Environmental Governance: A Case Study of Green Business in Florencia, Caquetá, Colombia

Abstract

In Amazonian territories such as the department of Caquetá, high biological wealth coexists with deep institutional asymmetries that hinder the articulation between productive sustainability, innovation and legal governance. In this context, this article analyzes the tension between the public policies of Green Growth and Intellectual Property in Colombia, examining its real impact on the consolidation of rural green markets. From a qualitative legal-empirical approach, a multiple case study applied to three Green Businesses in the municipality of Florencia is developed, with the purpose of evaluating the levels of innovation and the degree of appropriation and use of Intellectual Property instruments. The results show structural gaps in the management of intangible assets, a low appropriation of legal protection mechanisms and a weak territorial incorporation of sustainable innovation, which limits the competitiveness, scalability and economic sustainability of these ventures. The study concludes that the disarticulation between environmental sustainability, innovation and Intellectual Property erodes environmental governance and restricts the transformative potential of green markets, underscoring the need for integrated strategies that strengthen protected innovation as the axis of sustainable development in rural contexts of high biodiversity.