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June 6 and 7, 2024
The fifth WIPO-ARIPO TISC Regional meeting took place in Harare, Zimbabwe on June 6 and 7. The establishment of the ARIPO Regional TISC network was approved by the Administrative Council of ARIPO in November 2018, which also mandated the development of concrete and practical steps in building a regional approach to developing technology and innovation support amongst ARIPO member states.
The Regional Meeting was opened by Mr. Pierre Runiga, Acting Director General of ARIPO on behalf of Mr. Bemanya Twebaze, Director General of ARIPO, as well as Mr. Hiroyuki Kumagai, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Japan in Zimbabwe, and Mr. Andrew Czajkowski, Director, Technology and Innovation Support Division, WIPO. All ARIPO Member States, bar two (2), and three Observers (Ethiopia, Mauritius and Nigeria) attended the meeting.
The opening remarks reflected the focus of the Regional Meeting, which was the development of the regional TISC network and in particular:
(i) recent developments in WIPO’s TISC global program activities and resources;
(ii) a review of national TISC networks in ARIPO member states;
(iii) building an integrated innovation ecosystems in and amongst member states; and
(iv) a review and update of agreed actionable points on awareness-raising, capacity-building, infrastructure and information resources, policy development, and governance.
The ARIPO Capacity Building Officer, Mr. Byson Sabola, discussed ARIPO's five (5) IPR Protocols and its other activities, focusing on:
- Academic Programs;
- IP Seminars for Academic and Research Institutions;
- Support for IP Policy and Strategy Development;
- ARIPO-EPO University IP Outreach Project;
- ARIPO Regional Patent Examination Training (ARPET) Program; and
- IP Schools’ Clubs Project.
All ARIPO member and observer states gave presentations with updates on the implementation and development of their national TISC Projects as well as the challenges they face and their future plans.
The Regional Meeting was extremely interactive and as a result very productive in reinforcing the framework of cooperation between Member States, ARIPO and WIPO, as well as establishing and maintaining contacts at a personal level.