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IUIU Don Represents Uganda at a Regional Workshop on Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation, held in Accra-Ghana

• 09th October, 2023 9:53am
• 3 minutes read

Dr Yahya Umar, a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Science and the Head of IUIU’s Motion Analysis Research Laboratory (MARL), represented Uganda at the recently concluded regional workshop on Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation (IPRI), held in Accra Ghana from 3^rd to 5^th October 2023. The workshop organised by the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) in collaboration with the Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation in Africa (AfrIPI) and Ghana’s Registrar General’s Department under the Ministry of Justice, brought together 19 State representatives of a total of 23 Member States of ARIPO, to which Uganda is a member. AfrIPI is a project aimed at fostering trade and development between Europe and Africa with IPRI as a core driver. The AfrIPI project is funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). With the recommendation of IUIU, Dr Yahya was nominated by the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB), to represent Uganda at this workshop, primarily on the basis of the Research and Innovation activities at MARL over the past 3 years. Dr Yahya is also IUIU’s focal person within the Technology and Innovation Support Centre (TISC) Network of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

The 3-day intensive workshop covered several important topics with real-world case studies. The topics included:- An overview of the activities of AfrIPI and ARIPO, the fundamentals of IPR and Innovation, the crucial role of IP offices in promoting Innovation and Use of IPR on the African continent, experience sharing by member states on Country-specific efforts and approaches with regards IPRI, the role of tertiary and R&D institutions in fostering Innovation for Economic Development, Leveraging IPR for business growth and competitiveness by small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the complex act of balancing between the threats and opportunities between IPR-led Innovation and Open Access based Innovation paradigms, and the various IPR licensing approaches. “This was a high-level engagement by ARIPO member states’ delegates. As Universities, we are expected to play a crucial role within the IP-driven Innovation Ecosystem that is aimed at fostering industrialization, job creation, and socio-economic growth and development. This requires putting in place support systems and mechanisms within our universities to facilitate our expected role”, shared Dr Yahya Umar.

While in Accra – Ghana, Dr Yahya also held a brief meeting with a representative team from Lakeside University College Ghana (LUCG) led by the University President, Professor Mohammed-Sani Abdulai. LUCG is a partner University in Ghana that is currently involved in preparatory steps with IUIU, for the implementation of a reverse linkage project to be financed by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), aimed at building both Infrastructural and Human Resource Capacity of LUCG with the assistance of IUIU.