À l’ère postpandémique, Open AIR cherche des solutions équitables aux freins à...
En 2013, le réseau Open AIR (Open African Innovation Research) publiait une étude prospective prévoyant un avenir ponctué de bouleversements, comme une pandémie catastrophique à l’échelle...
African Innovation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution
By Chidi Oguamanam
The third industrial revolution (3IR) provided perhaps the most
significant insights into Africa’s potential to fast-track its sustainable
development. As with previous industrial revolutions,...
Opportunities from Côte d’Ivoire on Plastic Waste and the Blue Economy
By Ahou Rachel Koumi
In 2019, my niece and I enjoyed a two-day outing to the famous beaches of Assinie, in Côte d'Ivoire. I have fond...
Les Fablabs en Afrique : une utopie à l’épreuve des...
By Thomas Hervé Mboa Nkoudou
Du 6 au 10 mai 2018, la ville de Dakar accueillait le Festival Afropixel 6 sur la thématique « Utopies non-alignées :...
40th WIPO IGC: Mixed Impressions as Experts Seek a New Mandate
By Chidi Oguamanam, cross-posted from ABS Canada.
Pre-session
Strategy Meetings
Experts and delegates gathered in Geneva for the 40th session of the WIPO IGC, which commenced on...
Three Centuries and Counting: The Emergence and Development of Intellectual Property...
Authored by: Caroline Ncube. This chapter provides an historical account of the development of IP on the African continent which highlights how the introduction of IP systems and their transposed legislation displaced existing knowledge governance systems and entrenched a primarily extractor-biased IP system.
The Role of Women and Girls in Unlocking Africa’s Digital Future
By Rosemond Yaa Kpeiku
The Second Africa Summit on Women and Girls in Technology was a three day event in collaboration between the World Wide...
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,
Open AIR North Africa Distinguished Speaker Series: Ibrahim Al-Safadi on Makerspaces...
On 10 December 2016, as part of the RiseUp Summit in Cairo, Open AIR’s North Africa hub hosted their first Distinguished Speaker event with Ibrahim Al-Safadi, the CEO of Luminous Education. The Access to Knowledge for Development Center (A2K4D) invited Al-Safadi to speak about the role of “makerspaces” to tackle unemployment and to share his experiences in how to create a makerspace that ensures that the individuals involved end up with jobs.
The Intellectual Property Treaty Landscape in Africa, 1885 to 2015
This paper maps the 130-year history of the IP treaty landscape governing the protection of, and access to, knowledge in Africa.












