WIPO to support innovation in Nigeria

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has announced plans to strengthen Nigeria’s technology innovation centres with particular reference to the Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Offices (IPTTOs) established by the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) in tertiary institutions and research centres across the country. WIPO will help strengthen existing national capacities through the [...]

Innovation, IP & India – commentary from the Indian pharmaceutical industry

Small innovations that build on existing knowledge are the true backbone and a specific strength of the pharma industry.

World IP Day – 10th Anniversary

Yesterday marked the 10th anniversary of World Intellectual Property Day.  Francis Gurry, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization commented that “Innovative technologies are creating a truly global society. The intellectual property system is part of this linking process. It facilitates the sharing of information. It provides a framework for trading and disseminating technologies. [...]

UN report on patents and innovation

“History has shown… that companies and countries which continue to invest in new products and innovation during times of economic recession will be those that will be best positioned to take advantage of the recovery, when it arrives,” said WIPO Director General Francis Gurry. Demand for international trademarks and patents dropped last year in the [...]

Ministers from Least-Developed Countries develop strategy to encourage local innovation and investment

Ministers and other senor government officials from least developed countries agreed to a strategy for using intellectual property to encourage local innovation and encourage foreign investment at a recent WIPO Forum.  The ministers also discussed the challenges facing LDCs in this area, in particular the difficulties for LDCs to obtain better access to technological information. [...]

World IP Day 2009

As designated by the World Intellectual Property Organization, April 26th is World IP Day…  Each year, WIPO and its Member States celebrate World Intellectual Property Day with activities geared towards increasing public understanding of what IP really means, and to demonstrate how the IP system fosters not only music, arts and entertainments, but also all the [...]

China to strengthen protection of intellectual property rights

Protection of intellectual property rights is necessary not only for economic development and country-to-country exchanges, but is also a matter of respecting the value of people’s work, stated Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. Wen was speaking yesterday in a meeting with Francis Gurry, director-general of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).  Premier Wen also said his [...]

Strong IP system boosts knowledge economy development

Strong intellectual property protection is essential to the economic growth of developing countries, according to a senior official with the World Intellectual Property Association.   “It is a myth and complete misunderstanding to think that IP protection is not important. It is relevant to all countries wanting to build up their economy,” stated the WIPO official. Ensuring strong [...]

Strengthening the economies of developping countries through intellectual property

As reported in This Day Online, Assistant Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, has advocated a structured approach in harnessing Nigeria’s intellectual property assets, which he said  remained one of the tools for economic development. “The most important source of technological information known to man today is the patent [...]