African continent intensifies training of intellectual property professionals to promote economic development through IP

By Wallace Mawire [caption id="attachment_42274" align="alignleft" width="640"] Fernando Dos Santos, Director General of ARIPO[/caption] The African continent which has been lagging behind other continents in the use of intellectual property for its economic development is intensifying training to capacitate professionals with IP knowledge and skills across the continent. Zimbabwe recently witnessed the 10th anniversary of the Masters in Intellectual Property programme hosted by Africa University and jointly funded by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), the African Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO) and the Japanese government. According to Fernando Dos Santos, Director General of ARIPO headquartered in Harare, Zimbabwe the masters programme in IP at Africa University in Mutare began when WIPO and ARIPO jointly organized a colloquium on IP education, training and research in July 2006. The Africa university is a Pan African university identified as the ideal institution to offer the programme. According to Dos Santos, each year WIPO provides 20 scholarships including the use of the Japan Funds in Trust (FIT) whilst ARIPO provides 10 scholarships. It is reported that cumulatively, WIPO has provided over 190 scholarships and ARIPO 64 during the decade. Professor Robson Mafoti, Interim Vice Chancellor and CEO of the Pan African Minerals University of Science and Technology in Zimbabwe who was guest of honour at the anniversary of the programme said that to date the MIP programme as it has become to be known has created for the African continent over 300 highly qualified and industry ready IP professionals. “Intellectual Property, the concepts and beliefs that ground it and the philosophical and practical implications that is holds for Africa are still not fully understood within our communities and respective organisations. IP is such am important part of economic development that it would be perilous to ignore it,” Dr Mafoti said. He added that in the African continent’s continuous pursuit for economic equality and sustainability there is an error of hinging on natural resources only. He said that while Africa focuses on figuring out how to get its minerals out of the ground , the world is moving on building knowledge based economies that are service-intensive, manufacturing intensive and also labour intensive. “As a continent, we have proudly and very rightly so invested in education on an extensive and exhaustive level but in spite of all this, we find ourselves not catching up with the rest of the world,” Professor Mafoti said. He added that Africa has favourable business environments and has infrastructure, technology and the manpower but has minimal growth in its economies. He said that Africa has not done like other countries which have realized that it is pointless to invest in educating people if they do not know how to harness that investment into tangible knowledge that benefits economies. “We need to encourage our socities’ intellectual mavericks and rebels against convention and the ordinary to come out of hiding and share their knowledge. We have to come to terms with the fact that our new ideology is patent or perish,” Professor Mafoti said.