Invention in Africa: Open AIR shares its Model at CAAS 2019

By Uchenna Felicia Ugwu Africa is becoming recognized as an important hub of informal innovation, which should not be excluded or ignored by formal systems for IP...

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.

Gender Equality and Women Empowerment in Southwest States of Nigeria

By Esther Adekunbi Gender equality is a very important issue in today’s world, while also a fraught debate. Gender equality can be achieved when men and women...

Makerspaces et émancipation des femmes en Afrique : Briser les préjugés...

Par Thomas Hervé Mboa Nkoudou Au cours de mon séjour de recherche, je me suis intéressé à la place réservée aux femmes au sein...

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,

Collaboration Nord-Sud et présentation du processus de l’innovation au système de...

for Rachel's blog post
par Ahou Rachel KOUMI Ce blogpost est la première partie d’une série de deux blogs sur les Journées de l’Innovation en Contexte Académique réalisées du 19...

How NOT to Review a Research Paper: Reflections from Harvard Law...

By Jane Ezirigwe In late January, I had the privilege to be selected as one of the scholars to be part of the Harvard Law...

Reconciling Intellectual Property Rights and African Development: The Right to Development...

By Uchenna Felicia Ugwu In September 2017, the Thabo Mbeki Foundation and the Centre for Human Rights (CHR), Faculty of Law University of Pretoria gathered together...

Innovation by “makers” in South Africa’s Gauteng Province

The “Makers” who come together to tinker and hack in the maker collectives of South Africa’s Gauteng Province display a wide range of innovation practices, our research for Open AIR has found. Our study, Collaboration and Appropriation in Gauteng Makerspaces, investigated the activities of eight Gauteng maker collectives. The findings have now been published in Open AIR Working Paper 6, entitled The Maker Movement in Gauteng Province, South Africa.

Researching Maker Communities and Socio-economic Inclusion

By Chris Armstrong As part of our Maker Movement research theme, we at Open AIR are trying to build understanding of how participation in...