29 Jun 2023

Intellectual Property (IP) is a crucial engine for knowledge-based economies as well as an asset for universities, research institutions and innovative firms.

Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ms Malebogo Morakaladi said this when officially opening a two-day capacity building workshop for research and academic institutions, organised by the Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA) on Tuesday in Gaborone.

Ms Morakaladi said the development of an IP policy by Botswana last year marked a significant achievement as it set the basis for IP as leverage.

“It is vital to note however that in Botswana IP ecosystem is still at infancy stage and as a result, the policy requires wide awareness and publicity among all stakeholders on its significance,” she said.

Ms Morakaladi said that IP was also a fundamental pillar in shaping the development of innovative ideas and accelerating progress across various fields, and that it allowed scholars to protect their valuable intellectual assets while at the same time, fostering the commercialisation of their researches.

She however said that despite its significance, it was a pity that a number of vital stakeholders such as academics, innovators and research institutions still lacked a comprehensive understanding of the IP system, a gap she said had led to missed opportunities and insufficient protection for valuable IP assets.

“This means that it is important that we upscale our capacity building initiatives so that we can be in a position to leverage on the IP system for economic transformation. This is particularly vital for scholars who are already making significant contribution in the fields of science, technology and innovation,” she said.

Ms Morakaladi pointed out that academic institutions that had fully exploited the IP system stood a chance of producing industry ready graduates who were motivated and stimulated to innovate products for the global markets.

She therefore said the workshop was rightly timed, looking at the early stages of the Botswana Intellectual Property policy.

“Through this policy, we envision that Botswana will be an IP driven economy by the year 2036, and by that time the country will be better positioned to harness IP for economic transformation,” she said.

The objective of the workshop is to build capacity on patenting, trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks and other relevant IP tools to help protect and exploit innovative ideas. Ends