Dr. Kakooza “Dealing with Trans-Border Quasi-Intellectual Property”
In October 2010, Yoweri Museveni, the President of Uganda, recorded a rap song titled: "Do You Want Another Rap?" as part of his re-election campaign to capture the imagination of young voters. The song was a huge success and may have played a part in his reelection. When Museveni applied for a copyright registration of the song, however, members of the Ankole community filed an objection stating that the song was derived from Ankole folklore. While the Registrar of Copyrights in Uganda eventually allowed Museveni's copyright application for registration, this case triggered Dr. Anthony Conrad K. Kakooza's interest in the area of traditional cultural expressions (TCEs) and whether TCEs should be recognized within the domain of intellectual property (IP) law.
Police Power Doctrine and Security of Investment: Balancing Regulation with Innovation
By Dr. Otitodiri Ogadinma OnyemaQES Postdoctoral Fellow, Centre for Law, Open AIR
In October, 2025, I had the privilege of presenting my research at the International Conference...
Highlighting Inclusion of Marginalized Voices at International Conferences: A NERG’s experience
By Nicole Tumaine
Over the past four months, I have had the privilege of attending three international conferences as a panelist thanks to the generous...
Open AIR at TFi4SD Africa
By Erika Kraemer-Mbula
The 2018 Annual Economic Summit, was organised by the Global Economic Institute in partnership with the Government of the Canary Islands. It...
Open AIR presents at ATRIP
The Advancement of Training and Research for Intellectual Property (ATRIP) Conference provides a yearly opportunity for international experts and other academics in the field of intellectual property (IP) to come together and exchange current research. The set-up of ATRIP’s conference enables for ease of networking with similar speakers separated into common sessions. Tana Pistorius, ATRIP President, and her team of organizers, did a superb job in ensuring a diversity of, yet connection between, sessions. Sessions covered a range of topics from new ideas for leveraging traditional knowledge (or “innovation knowledge” as Susy Frankel stated), to plant breeder’s rights, to diversity, art and culture in IP and innovation.
MENA Observatory on Responsible AI
Open AIR’s North African hub, The Access to Knowledge for Development Center (A2K4D) at the American University in Cairo’s Onsi Sawiris School of Business,...
2024 Global Health Security Conference Event
By Charlotte Galvani and Jeremy de Beer
Negotiations toward a new international treaty on pandemic preparedness and response have failed to reflect a rights-based consensus...
Inclusive Innovation: Lessons from Africa for the World’s ICT Policymakers
Information communication technologies (ICT) can play a crucial role in promoting development, making societies more just, equitable, and inclusive of marginalized communities. To see how, some of the brightest young researchers from the “global South” met with established field leaders at the IDRC and COSTECH-sponsored 2016 CPRsouth conference in Zanzibar.
The Open African Innovation Research Partnership Transition Workshop
By Dana Elbashbishy
On the 8th of February
2018, members of the Open African Innovation Research Partnership (Open AIR) gathered
in Accra, Ghana to share research...
In pursuit of a Coalition of the African Innovation Agencies: Doing...
Caroline Wanjiru Muchiri
On Friday 1st March 2024, a group of individuals drawn from various sectors gathered at the University of Johannesburg Business School to...












