Photo: EAPO

WIPO – EAPO Regional meeting on enhancing IP commercialization capacity of techno-parks in the region of EAPO Member States was held in Astana (Kazakhstan) on March 14 and 15, 2023.

The Project has been designed in response to the IP management challenges and the need for professional IP collaboration among participating stakeholders. It targets the techno-parks in EAPO Member States – Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. For the Region, techno-parks are the primary hubs for innovation and creativity, bringing together diverse companies and individuals with different expertise and potential. That is why the Project has a special strategic meaning.

The Regional meeting in Astana served as an official launching of the WIPO-EAPO Project, with the participation of high-ranking officials from Kazakhstan, the President of EAPO, the Heads of National IP Offices, and WIPO Officials from the IP for Innovators Department (IPID) and Division for Transition and Developed Countries (TDC).

Photo: EAPO

The focus of the Regional meeting was to raise awareness of the importance of the legal framework for IP commercialization and to provide practical tools and guidelines to tackle associated challenges. Thus, the Beneficiaries (representatives of national governments, patent offices, and techno-parks) took part in the training on developing Institutional IP Policy, where they discussed various issues (such as the definition of ownership, provisions to incentivize researchers, etc.) and shared the best practices in the Region.

This Regional meeting was a unique chance to bring together the stakeholders in the region of EAPO Member States and to define the further direction of collaboration. The participants agreed on the strong necessity to enhance the IP commercialization capacity of techno-parks for the benefit of the Region.