In the Philippines and Papua New Guinea rural communities are taking advantage of old patents to develop their local economy. Thanks to the support of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) - the premier forum for facilitating economic growth, cooperation, trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region - remote villages situated in Central Luzon, the Philippines, benefitted from the intervention of Korean intellectual property (IP) experts to improve the processing of ylang ylang essential oils. Korean consultants analyzed the existing situation of the villages and then proceeded with a prior art search via the Korean IP database: from expired patents they took inspiration to modify oil extractor boilers in order to maximize its capacity and developed a mobile facility able to move between villages located far away from the only existing Anao’s extractor. Using the same approach, another APEC project successfully managed to provide an irrigation system during dry season in Pinu, Papua New Guinea. This intervention enable locals not only to feed their families during the period of hunger, but also to sell the harvest and invest in healthcare and education. The impact of these recycled technologies is very broad; adapting existing inventions to local needs means raising the quality of life in hardly reachable areas and boosting their economies through a sustainable development. The gLAWcal Team LIBEAC project Friday, 29 August 2014 (Source: APEC) This news has been realized by gLAWcal—Global Law Initiatives for Sustainable Development in collaboration with the University Institute of European Studies (IUSE) in Turin, Italy and the University of Piemonte Orientale, Novara, Italy which are both beneficiaries of the European Union Research Executive Agency IRSES Project “Liberalism in Between Europe And China” (LIBEAC) coordinated by Aix-Marseille University (CEPERC). This work has been realized in the framework of Workpackages 4, coordinated by University Institute of European Studies (IUSE) in Turin, Italy.