15 Nov 2022

Botswana Intellectual Property  Policy, the first to be developed for the nation, constitutes a major milestone with the potential to immensely contribute to the country’s economy.

This was said by President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi at the policy’s launch in Gaborone yesterday.

Noting that Botswana was striving to be an intellectual property (IP) driven economy  by 2036,  he said IP rights had a vital role in growing economies.

President Masisi said IP rights were critical for spurring innovation and creativity, giving large and small firms a range of tools to help drive their success.

“The new drivers of wealth in modern economies have certainly  evolved and the paradigm of wealth creation has shifted from natural resources to an economy of ideas in which intellectual property  has become one of the determinants of economic success thus intellectual property will be crucial going forward,”  President Masisi said.

He said that would benefit  consumers  and society  through a continuous stream of innovative, competitive products and services as well as an expansion of society’s overall state of knowledge.

President  Masisi emphasised the  need to strengthen the IP system to provide impetus not just for local creativity and innovation but also the social cultural development geared towards citizen economic empowerment.

“Botswana has over the years made significant strides to improve its IP landscape.  We  have  enacted  intellectual  property  laws such as the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act, 2006 and the Industrial Property Act, 2010,” he said.

He said the policy would strengthen IP protection and domesticate international conventions, treaties, protocols and agreements providing  IP protection standards.

President Masisi noted that government had come up with initiatives to support the creative industry such as establishment of Copyright Society of Botswana (COSBOTS) whose mandate was to collect and distribute royalties on behalf of its members.

The President said the copyright industry contributed significantly to the national economy.

Quoting a Companies and Intellectual Property Authority study, he said copyright-based industries contributed 5.46 per cent to GDP and 2.66 per cent to employment, thus competing well  with other sectors.

In recognition of the creative industry’s potential to the economy, President Masisi said government established  the  National  Arts Council in 2020 to promote the arts and culture sector.

“Through the National Arts Council, the country has also taken steps to ensure that Intellectual Property rights are respected and enforced.

It is  pleasing to note that  according  to the recent Global Innovation  Index  results  published  by WIPO, Botswana is now Africa’s sixth most innovative country,” he said.

Despite all the achievements, President  Masisi said Botswana had not systematically integrated the IP system into the economy hence the formulation of the policy.

It  would guide the use of IP for economic development, he said. ENDS