By Jonathan Mbiriyamveka
ARIPO director general Mr Bemanya Twebaze has called for Intellectual Property Applications to address the lacklustre performance of Africa in the global industrial property statistics.
In his opening remarks at the two-day seminar on Patent Libraries (PATLIB) Tuesday, Mr Twebaze said there was need for stimulation of more IP applications for sustainable development.
“With our collective sacrifices and such support from our most valuable partners, we envisage the stimulation of more IP applications in the medium and long term.
“Practically, more IP applications mean more sustainable agriculture and food security for Africa; improved medicines; therapeutics and diagnostics; clean water; and general socio-economic progress,” he said.
“This is the value of intellectual property in the days of our lives. This is why I strongly believe this partnership is going to achieve extremely meaningful impact.”
Mr Twebaze said the seminar brought together true experts with diverse skills and implored participants to share experiences.
“You will be the torchbearers of our transition, and forerunners to the true equitable socio-economic development of our continent.
“There is a special reason why academia has always been dubbed the noble profession.
“I therefore implore you all, with due respect, to make use of this opportunity to generously share experiences and offer suggestions for improvement. By its very nature, learning should be a two-way communication where both parties benefit from each other’s insights,” he said.
The PATLIB intervention is in line with ARIPO’s continuous mandate to build intellectual property capacity toward Africa’s socio-economic development.
Mr Twebaze said the project was tailored for ARIPO Member States’ universities and the selected universities to pilot the project will have access to the well-established network of more than 320 PATLIB centers in Europe.
Beyond the pilot, he said, we hoped to enroll all interested universities in the region to allow them access to IP knowledge and information on how to convert IP rights into market products.
“The fact that over 40% of these PATLIB centers are based in academic environments is already a benefit for our universities because from where we stand, national governments are beginning to demand a lot from the institutions in terms of knowledge production,” he said.
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