Is Creativity and Innovation All About Intellectual Property?
In the recently concluded ‘African Ministerial Conference: Intellectual Property for an Emerging Africa’ organized in part by WIPO (here), one cannot help but think that all roads leading to creativity and innovation are paved with intellectual property (IP) laws and institutions. Put differently, the level of creativity and innovation in a society is dependent solely on how we tinker with and enforce IP laws. This ‘IP parochialism’, as I call it, is manifest in the conference program. Of course, the response would be that the conference was solely about IP and as such there was no need to look beyond IP. This is an erroneous view.
Open Data Brings Farmers and Researchers Together
How can farmers and researchers use open data to work together for food security? Open data and other forms of open access to knowledge help facilitate these relationships.
Innovation and Intellectual Property: Collaborative Dynamics in Africa
Editors: Jeremy de Beer, Chris Armstrong, Chidi Oguamanam and Tobias SchonwetterPublication Date: 2014Download: Innovation and Intellectual Property: Collaborative Dynamics in Africa (PDF, EPUB)
Innovation and...
A Data Commons for Food Security
Agricultural data is globally recognized for its importance in addressing food insecurity. We propose a ‘data commons’, formed through a licensing model that allows farmers to benefit from the datasets to which they contribute.
La transition vers des villes et des territoires durables le role...
Par Abdelhamid Benhmade
En réponse à l’invitation de Cités et Gouvernements Locaux Unis d’Afrique (CGLU Afrique), j’ai eu la possibilité d’assister à la 8èmeédition du...
Open AIR NERG Attends WIPO-WTO Colloquium
Just last month, I had the opportunity to participate in the 13th WIPO-WTO Colloquium for Teachers of Intellectual Property held at World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and World Trade Organization (WTO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland from 13 to 24 June, 2016. I am beyond thankful for this scholarship and enjoyed an intense two week programme, covering eighteen substantive topics touching on all areas of intellectual property (IP) law. There were thirty-nine experts from WIPO, WTO, WHO, UNFCCC, UPOV, NGOs ,and industry who took part in the Colloquium as speakers and I was among twenty-six participants selected from approximately 160 applicants from developing countries around the world.
Chapitre 2: Cadres d’analyse de l’innovation africaine : l’entrepreneuriat, l’économie informelle...
Jeremy de Beer, Izabella Sowa et Kristen HolmanDate de publication: septembre 2017Télécharger: Chapitre 2: Cadres d’analyse de l’innovation africaine : l’entrepreneuriat, l’économie informelle et...
Knowledge and Innovation in Africa: Scenarios for the Future
This 2013 book is the product of three years of literature reviews, expert interviews and scenario-building exercises by the Open AIR network. The authors trace the contours of knowledge and innovation in Africa from the founding civilisations to today’s current realities, and then set out the drivers of change that can be expected to shape innovation systems on the continent between now and the year 2035.
Open Data and Ownership at the Global Open Data for Agriculture...
By Jeremy Baarbé
(Picture: courtesy of Drawnalism)
Open data has the potential to end global hunger. Farmers, government ministers, NGOs, and private firms gathered to collaborate...
Access to COVID-19 Vaccines: the Patent Freeze Proposal and a New...
By Chidi Oguamanam and Sarah O’Flaherty
The State of Affairs
As the vaccination rate rises in Canada and other developed nations, developing countries globally continue to record an...












