Despite efforts made by African countries over the years to develop effective Intellectual Property (IP) ecosystems, experts have said that the majority still face challenges that undermine aspects of socioeconomic development.

According to industry players, IP systems' creation, protection, maintenance, commercialisation, and enforcement are still weak, with limited institutional and human resource capacities.

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However, with Africa’s economy increasingly being driven by knowledge, innovation, and technology, experts argue that it is an opportune moment for its policymakers to re-examine where each country stands regarding IP ecosystems and how to improve them.

The New Times spoke to different industry players on the challenges faced in enforcement, and the way forward for the continent. Here, for example, Sand Mba Kalu, an international trade and investment expert based in Nigeria, said, African nations need to come together and harmonise the continent’s IP system.

"We need to ask questions like: is IP an abstract from Africa, and why is it that IP systems are under-financed in Africa? We need to have this conversation and rethink Africa’s stance in the global IP systems,” he noted.

Mba Kalu who is in Kigali for the fifth All Africa Intellectual Property Summit, argues that while Africa was not at the table when the global IP system was established, the continent has a "massive role” to play.

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"We want to see IP systems working for Africa. We want to see African products being sold in Japan because they are African products. We want to see that. It is a process, but it is still possible.”

Phillip Nyanja Kalibbala, an IP advocate and agent based in Uganda echoed similar sentiments, pointing out that it is about time "Africa owns its IP system for the benefit of its people.”

"Unfortunately, the current IP system is based on international standards, but we have questions on these standards. There are many questions because first of all the system is very technical, it is hard for young African entrepreneurs to understand, but most challenging it is very costly,” he said.

According to him, IP ecosystems in Africa have not been optimal in leveraging IP to effectively advance socioeconomic development toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

For instance, he said, one indicator of innovation is the number of patent registrations filed in countries, and Africa is lagging far behind.

In 2020, Africa accounted for only 0.5 percent of the world’s patent applications, compared to 66.6 percent for Asia, 19.3 percent for North America, and 10.9 percent for Europe.

Statistics also indicate that the number of applications from African residents constituted only 20.7 percent, reflecting that most of the applications were submitted by non-residents”.

This ordinarily means that Africa’s local innovations were either limited or not fully protected by the patent systems.

"There is that gap. We want to first make our people aware of how to use the system and how it benefits them. We also want to remove middlemen. But what is most important is to raise awareness because the continent could lag for the next fifty years if nothing is done. We shall always be on the back end.”

For Professor Grace Funmilayo Ogunlusi, the Director of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer at Nigeria-based Obafemi Awolowo University, the lack of knowledge is critical in the lack of IP protection on the continent.

"You will find creative people who come up with innovations, but they don't know that that wealth should be protected.”

For instance, she said that in academia the majority of researchers will publish all the research without being protected, which is not the same case in advanced economies.

"It is a challenge because some of this research is extracted, materialised, and sold back to the African continent.”

Other challenges include funding, particularly with researchers. The cost of registering the IP with the global system (WIPO) is exorbitant, Prof. Ogunlusi reiterated.

"I think the government also plays a role. It needs to identify highly valuable innovations and be ready to support them with the necessary funding for protecting these rights. At the end of the day, we are developing the continent’s sustainable development”

Make it simple, and effective

From a legal perspective, however, Doreen Umulisa, a lawyer with expertise in IP matters believes that IP touches different vulnerable groups including Small and Medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups.

Umulisa, who is a project lead at the Center for Law and Innovation at Certa Foundation, pointed out that her organisation has embarked on supporting startups with an incubation, where they access free of charge legal services, and also protect their trademarks.

She said that startups are also supported with registering their IP under the free services.

"This is normally costly between the range of $2,000 and $4,000, and us being able to do it for small companies is what we are doing to build sustainable institutions for Africa’s future.”

Umulisa maintained that while it is important to voice the challenges, the work for Africa is cut out.

"We should be having discussions on how to simplify these rigorous processes for small businesses, how can these companies be able to protect their ideas and how are we instilling the culture of protecting ideas at early stages,” she said.

"Young entrepreneurs need to understand, from an early stage, that it is easier to invest in registered businesses because it boosts investor confidence and value creation.”

She added; "It all boils down to making it simple, the terminologies that we use, and the whole concept of IP rights should be translated into how these benefit the businesses.”