Researchers from the Open African Innovation Research (Open AIR) network have been awarded $2.5 million CAD through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council’s Partnership Grants program to launch the Canada–Africa Partnership on Intellectual Property (CAP on IP) for Climate Action. This initiative will accelerate clean-technology innovation while ensuring equitable access to its benefits by transforming intellectual property (IP) systems to support, rather than hinder urgent climate action.
The CAP on IP for Climate Action project unites an extraordinary coalition of academic experts, policymakers, and community leaders across Africa, North America, and the United Kingdom to address the complex relationship between IP systems, cleantech innovation, and climate justice. Building on more than 15 years of Open AIR’s work advancing collaborative, equitable, and accessible frameworks for innovation, the project will co-create practical solutions that dismantle systemic barriers affecting marginalized communities and low-income countries.
Professor Jeremy de Beer and Professor Chidi Oguamanam, both from the University of Ottawa’s Common Law Section and co-directors of the Open AIR network, provide overall intellectual direction for this international project as Project Co-Directors. Co-applicants include Professor Florian Martin-Bariteau (uOttawa; Director, Centre for Law, Technology and Society), Professor Tobias Schonwetter and Professor Caroline Ncube (University of Cape Town), Professor Nagla Rizk(American University in Cairo), Professor Erika Kraemer-Mbula (University of Johannesburg), Dr. Melissa Omino(Strathmore University, Kenya), Professor Bassem Awad (Western University), Professor Alex Mogyoros (Toronto Metropolitan University), Professor Chijioke Okorie (University of Pretoria), Professor Tesh Dagne (York University), and Professor Desmond Oriakhogba (University of the Western Cape). The project also benefits from 23 collaborators spanning government, industry, civil society, and academia.
CAP on IP for Climate Action combines three mutually reinforcing streams. First, five action-research interventions will create hands-on collaborations with policymakers and industry at international, regional, national, and community levels to align IP rules and climate policies, from UN agencies and continental trade agreements to national innovation programs and private-sector practices. Second, eight in-depth case studies will examine how innovators navigate IP and regulatory challenges across regions and sectors—for example, cleantech patenting and water-security governance—to inform inclusive, effective policy design. Third, “wind-tunneling” scenario simulations will be used to test how different policy and regulatory choices could play out, identifying robust strategies for sustainable and inclusive innovation.
The partnership will also invest in talent, training and mentoring more than 130 students and emerging scholars, many from historically underrepresented communities, while producing policy briefs, peer-reviewed articles, and multimedia storytelling.
SSHRC Partnership Grants support major, multi-year collaborations that advance research, research training, and knowledge mobilization in the social sciences and humanities, encouraging shared intellectual leadership and deep community engagement.
Open AIR’s excellence and impact have been recognized by SSHRC on multiple occasions, including a previous SSHRC Partnership Grant of $2.5 million, which helped build Open AIR’s international, multi-sector research network, and the SSHRC Impact Award (Partnership Award), recognizing outstanding achievement in research, training, and knowledge mobilization across the network.
Open AIR is an international network of networks conducting collaborative research on innovation, IP, knowledge governance, and inclusive, sustainable development. Open AIR is anchored by six institutional hubs and founding partners: the University of Cape Town and the University of Johannesburg in South Africa, Strathmore University in Kenya, the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies in Nigeria, the American University in Cairo in Egypt, and a coordinating hub at the University of Ottawa in Canada.
For more information or media inquiries, please contact Open AIR Program Manager Dr. Yvonne Ndelle at openair@uottawa.ca.
