27 Apr 2022

Knowledge of types of intellectual property protection is critical to building viable and sustainable businesses and efforts must be made to equip young people with those. 

Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Mmusi Kgafela during the World Intellectual Property Day in Francistown on Tuesday. 

“Young people through their creativity and innovative ideas are ideally positioned to make an impact on the global economy, as well as to create and shape the future that they desire to live in,” he said, adding this was possible through protection of intellectual property. 

He said in March, Parliament approved the Botswana Intellectual Property Policy, whose main objective was to ensure that it contributed towards harnessing creative talent for economic growth. 

Mr Kgafela said the government would further establish model intellectual property clusters aimed at upgrading businesses that generatedpatents, utility models and other rights. Economic and Commercial Officer at the US Embassy, Mr Brian Smyser highlighted the potential Botswana carried with  promise in the fields of innovation and intellectual property creation. 

He said it was important to lay a foundation for the economy and international trade relationships through protection of innovative ideas, adding that to get this protection, one has to be fully registered with the Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA). 

Without such protection, “and other cultural creators would not be able to protect their unique works and this would severely damage cultural vitality, as well as our ability to share our unique cultures with our friends around the country,” he said. 

He further said intellectual property drove the economy through job creation, enabling the employment of hundreds of millions of people worldwide. 

He gave an example of the United States where in 2019, the industry accounted for 41 per cent of domestic economic activity. 

Francistown City mayor, Mr Godisang Radisigo urged the media to make dissemination of information about intellectual property for the benefit of Batswana a priority. 

Mr Radisigo said innovation was about identifying  problems and coming up with  solutions and advised young entrepreneurs to move from being creative to inventing. 

He also encouraged them to learn how intellectual property could diversify the economy. 

The mayor advised them to register their innovations with CIPA and warned that distributing someone’s products without their consent was a violation of the law. 

The commemoration was held under the theme: Intellectual Property and Youth: Innovating for a better future. Ends