Laws and Policies

2020 was an eventful year for the whole world, as a public health and economic crisis raged, bringing to the fore the perennial challenge of how to craft and use Intellectual Property (IP) institutions, law, policies and practices, collectively ‘IP frameworks’ to add to efforts to achieve sustainable development, and to consider recovery paths for economies. This coincided with intensified efforts to boost intra-African trade and enhance regional integration through the Agreement on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)and the entry of the US into negotiations for a bilateral FTA with Kenya. This book engages with this challenge in its six chapters.

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...

By Dianah Ajuna Byaruhanga October was cybersecurity awareness month, and I was delighted to attend various cybersecurity conferences online throughout the whole month. I am...

By Chidi Oguamanam* Except perhaps South Africa, credible statistics on the extent of the COVID-19 infection in African countries are lacking. Hypotheses on the rapid...

Drawing from more than 20 case studies of open, collaborative innovation in Africa, Open AIR has identified numerous dimensions of, and approaches to, enterprise-scaling. These case study findings are the core of Open AIR’s newest report, Scaling Innovation: How Open Collaborative Models Help Scale Africa s Knowledge-based Enterprises.

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...

By Wondwossen Belete Late last year, I attended four events concerning science, technology, and innovation in Africa. I was honored to be a speaker in three of...

Photo credit: Image by Ville Oksanen via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0) By Chidi Oguamanam, cross-posted from ABS Canada. After six days of deliberations (June 24-29, 2018) to secure...