Positioning Women Entrepreneurs to harness IP for AfCFTA gains

By Philda Maiga A new dawn is upon Africa, following a decision on 5 December 2020 of the African Union Assembly to kickstart the trading...

Quelle est la place de la femme dans l’écosystème digital au...

Par Aboubacry Kane et Dominique Diouf Depuis plusieurs décennies, les technologies de l’information et de la communication (TIC) ont connu une croissance exponentielle en...

Les défis d’étendre Open AIR dans des pays africains francophones

Le travail panafricain comprend plusieurs défis, entre autre la grandeur du continent, sa diversité, les différences juridiques, et la complexité des langues. Les défis sont particulièrement marqués pour l’innovation africaine. Il y a deux organismes régionaux dans le domaine de la propriété intellectuelle, en plus de l’Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle, ce qui souligne la diversité et les divisions linguistiques et régionales. Pour Open AIR, un réseau de recherche qui travaille dans de différents domaines de l’innovation et la propriété intellectuelle, on rencontre plusieurs défis à cause de cette diversité.

Lords of the Platforms: Beyond Banning Twitter, What else Should Nigeria...

By Adedamola Adediji It’s a flattened world! An offshoot of this is that political discourse, commercial transactions, and economic activities have mainly moved online. This...

Expedited COVID-19 R&D: Indigenous Knowledge and ABS Imperative

With the world on edge as the COVID-19 crisis progresses, the scientific community has sprung into gear in search of an effective treatment. Research and Development (R&D) is progressing at unprecedented speeds. Amidst this rapid development, traditional knowledge plays a significant role in scientific endeavours. Through traditional knowledge, medical researchers can gain guidance and inspiration and bypass prolonged and expensive scatter-gun approaches to R&D.

Challenging the Meaning of Innovation: Lessons from Refugee-Founded Organizations in Kampala

There is often a limited and constricted view of African innovation, especially when it comes to refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). While there is the common perception that refugees on the continent are resilient, innovative, and resourceful, it is only in the sense that “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. Too often, refugees and IDPs are perceived as persons with only needs. The reality is that refugees and IDPs are just like everyone else and bring many skills, ideas, and innovations to the global marketplace, both the marketplace of ideas and of goods.

Reconciling Copyright with Creativity: New Insights from 2018 Conferences (Part I)

By Helen Chuma-Okoro and Nicole Tumaine Access to knowledge (A2K) is necessary to further innovation and creativity. Due to the exclusive nature of...

New Funding for Research on African Innovation and Gender

The Open AIR network has received funding from the Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Advanced Scholars Program (QES) to create new opportunities for emerging scholars to explore African innovation through the lens of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.

7 Ways that African States are Legitimizing Artificial Intelligence

By Jake Okechukwu Effoduh Several reports on States’ adoption of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) across the world have indicated that African countries have a “slow” or...

OPEN AIR AND QES FELLOW EXPLORED THE IP, TK AND GENDER...

By Desmond Oriakhogba Gender issues are increasingly being discussed with regard to intellectual property (IP) and traditional knowledge (TK), especially from an African innovation perspective. Generally,...