Africa Bureau: Highlights of Activities
The work of the Economic Development Bureau for Africa has so far been guided by:
- decisions of the Assemblies of Member States of WIPO;
- the WIPO Permanent Committee on Cooperation for Development Related to Intellectual Property;
- a resolution of the Assembly of Heads of State of the African Union (AU); and
- the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) priorities.
In accordance with the decisions of WIPO's legislative bodies and the AU resolution referred to above, WIPO's overriding goal is to develop and strengthen African countries' capabilities in ensuring adequate protection and promotion of intellectual property rights and making optimal use of intellectual property for sustainable economic, technological and cultural development.
The biggest challenges for WIPO in Africa are to assist African countries to increase the volume of intellectual property assets and to utilize them to enhance Africa's competitiveness in the global market through their commercialization. To that end, WIPO has recently shifted the focus of its cooperation for development program to placing greater emphasis on economic development activities. The following activities are being carried out through the Organizations Economic Development Bureau for Africa:
Activities
- Assessment of the economic impact of the intellectual property system; development of intellectual property strategies for policymakers
- Promotion of intellectual property assets development and their commercialization
- Promotion of the use of the intellectual property system by cultural industries
- Promotion of inventive activity and innovation
- Capacity building
- Promotion of access to information technology tools and systems
