Transparency through the disclosure of patented inventions has been a defining feature of the modern patent system since its inception. As modern innovation continues to build upon and further advances the diversity of genetic resources, recent discussions have identified questions as to whether existing patent disclosure requirements should be additionally expanded through specific disclosure requirements for genetic resources and traditional knowledge to further improve the transparency and efficacy of the patent system. In 2002, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) was requested by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to prepare a technical study on questions pertaining to patent disclosure requirements related to genetic resources and traditional knowledge. The resulting WIPO Technical Study was made available to the Conference of the Parties of the CBD in 2004, and it was widely appreciated. More recently, and as policy, legal and practical questions pertaining to patent disclosure requirements related to genetic resources and traditional knowledge are being discussed at WIPO in the context, in particular, of the WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (the IGC), many have called for updated and improved empirical information on these questions. At its Twenty-Ninth Session in 2016, the IGC endorsed the updating and improving of the Technical Study from 2004 and requested the WIPO Secretariat to complete the exercise as soon as possible.