Recognizing Informal Sector Innovation: Implications for Traditional Knowledge Development in Africa

In 2012, a civil society group called the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), raised concerns about a draft Africa Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) plant variety protection protocol. AFSA was concerned,

COVID-19: In the Shadow of Ebola, the Patent War to Come...

By Chidi Oguamanam and Nailah Ramsoomair Note: A previous, shorter version of this article was published in Punch Newspapers here. In the midst of the COVID-19...

Building Women’s Resilience and Leadership in Climate Change and Humanitarian Crises

By Esther Mobolayo Adekunbi On Tuesday, March 10, 2020, I was privileged to attend a meeting organised by CARE Canada and the Food and Agriculture...

WIPO Special Committee on Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge, and Traditional...

The World Intellectual Property Organization’s specialist committee charged with negotiating text-based instrument(s) for the effective protection of Genetic Resources (GRs), Traditional Knowledge (TK), and Traditional Cultural Expressions (TCEs), on Friday June 16 2017 concluded its 34th session with partial agreement on its mandate and on the fate of the committee and its work program.

Meet our New and Emerging Researchers Group

Clarence Lakpini
Open AIR’s New and Emerging Researchers Group (NERG) embodies Open AIR’s commitment to the mentorship and development of students and early career researchers. Open...

Empowering Rural Craft Women through Social Entrepreneurship and Open, Inclusive Innovation

By Desmond Osaretin Oriakhogba My Engagement with the Hillcrest Aids Centre Trust in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa As part of my on-going project as a Queen...

WIPO IGC 39: Unraveling the Tiered Approach to TK/TCEs

By Chidi Oguamanam One of the major innovations of the IGC, in its long-running search for international legal instruments for the effective protection of TK/TCEs...

Women Bridging the Gap of Change and Innovation in Africa

ToyosiOnikosi / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
By Mnena Abuku Women in Africa have faced a diversity of struggles in their efforts toward sustainable development. This is largely because globalisation has brought more burdens upon...

Universités et Instituts de Recherche de Côte d’Ivoire en mode DIY,...

Par Ahou Rachel Koumi La COVID-19 apparue en décembre 2019 à Wuhan en Chine a atteint tous les continents. La maladie s’est déplacée d’homme à homme,...

A New Look at High Tech Hubs in the ‘Digital Savannah’:...

This is the first in a series of blog posts highlighting Open AIR’s latest working paper, A Framework for Assessing Technology Hubs in Africa, which will soon be published in the New York University Journal of Intellectual Property and Entertainment Law. This is the first paper to offer a framework for systematically describing and assessing the emergence of high technology hubs throughout Africa.