The second session of the Forum took place in Beijing, China from November 22-24, 2009. The prevailing economic downturn had brought sharp focus on emerging economies, particularly as they seemed to be riding out the storm better than anticipated.
For the BRICS nations, as much as the crisis of 2009 posed new challenges, it provided a unique opportunity to assume a larger role in world trade and politics. Equally, it prompted attention towards sustaining and enhancing their cycle of prosperity. The key lay in innovation and safeguards to nurture and protect it. In this backdrop, the BIPF meeting of 2009 provided an interesting narrative of how the IP scenario was evolving in the BRIC nations in the wake of the sharpest global downturn since the Great Depression.