Zimbabwe to host international conference on Intellectual Property (IP), innovation and business competitiveness in Africa
November 05, 2019
By Wallace Mawire
Bright Msaka, Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Malawi,
An international conference on the
theme: Intellectual Property (IP),
Innovation, and Value Addition for Business Competitiveness and Sustainable
Development in Africa will be held in
Harare, Zimbabwe from 6-8 November 2019.
The
three-day conference will provide a platform for participants to discuss and
exchange views on effective and comprehensive use of the IP system in creating
an enabling environment for socio-economic, scientific and technological,
development in Africa.
The
high-level discussions will focus on the be the conference will have high-level
meeting Africa in a Knowledge-based economy: challenges and
opportunities in the 4th industrial revolution, promoting the
development of institutional IP policies in African universities and research
organizations and SMEs as engines of economic growth in Africa among other topics.
The
outcome of the conference will be a draft proposal for a five-year roadmap and
action plan on the Effective Use of IP
and Innovation to Establish an Advanced Innovation Ecosystem in Africa, to
be submitted to ARIPO and OAPI governing bodies for consideration and possible
adoption.
The
guest of speaker will be the Minister
for Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs in Zimbabwe,Honourable Mr. Ziyambi Ziyambi. Other
VIPs to grace the Conference will be Honourable Bright Msaka, Minister for
Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Malawi, and Chairman of the Council of
Ministers of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation
(ARIPO) and Honourable
Achta Djibrine Sy, Minister for Mines, Industry, Trade and Promotion of Private
Sector, Republic of Tchad, Chair of the Administrative Council of l’Organisation de la propriété intellectuelle
(OAPI) [African Intellectual Property Organization].
The
conference is organized by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)in
collaboration with ARIPO and OAPI, with the support of the Japan Funds-in-Trust
for Africa and LDCs, and the Government of the Republic of Zimbabwe is to
attract over 200 participants drawn from 45 countries.
