Heritors Labs, with the support of the Research and Innovation Systems for Africa (RISA) Fund and Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has trained researchers and innovators on intellectual property rights.
The training sought to clarify the patent application process, enhance understanding of intellectual property laws, and equip participants with practical insights into securing and managing patents for their innovations.
The training, which took place in Accra, stressed the need to safeguard innovations to aid the country’s industrial development.
In an interview with the B&FT, the General Manager of Heritors Labs, Emmanuel Prince Amartey, indicated that intellectual property protection plays a vital role in safeguarding innovations and ensuring that innovators can benefit from their creations.
He emphasised the importance of intellectual property protection, saying the training will help create an environment that encourages research, innovation and entrepreneurship.
Mr. Amartey further noted that for the country to take very giant steps toward its socio-economic development, there is a need to invest in research institutions.
He also underscored the need for research institutions to embrace private-sector partnerships so as to boost innovations.
“What is happening is that most of the outcomes of CSIR are being used by private individuals and companies; but the council is not getting anything from those outcomes. So there is a need for them to protect their research and innovation outcomes so that people can pay to use it. This is how, we believe, CSIR as an institution can make money and then be able to undertake more independent research,” he noted.
Collaboration
By educating researchers and innovators on the importance of intellectual property protection, Heritors Labs and its partners hope to foster a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, which could lead to sustainable economic development.
This collaboration showcases a commitment to promoting and nurturing innovation in Africa, ultimately contributing to the continent’s overall development.
Enhancing gains
An international intellectual property (IP) expert and consultant, Emmanuel Sackey, who was the facilitator for the session, reiterated that the ability to safeguard innovations through patents is key to securing investment, fostering growth and driving industrial development.
He added that focus on strategic patent management provides opportunities to leverage intellectual property for competitive advantage, which can further enhance economic gains.
“We need to be doing this from time to time to ensure that the necessary skills and knowledge that we need to harness our intellectual assets are provided to make Ghana take a centre-stage in the global innovation ecosystem and build the economy based on innovation-led research and commercialised products which, at the end of the day, will make the Ghanaian economy very effective,” he said.
Head of Intellectual Property at CSIR, Dr. John Kwesi Ocran, expressed gratitude to the partnering organisations, adding: “One of the ways to protect innovations is to empower people so they can understand and know what to do. We want to empower our scientists and commercialise the findings ahead so they can file applications even at the institute level before the head office comes in. So, we are grateful to our partners, Heritors Labs, for putting resources together to ensure that today’s programme is a success”.
Heritors Labs is a pioneering product development company that specialises in software engineering and serves as a hub for cutting-edge research and innovation. In January 2022, the organisation set out to advance the state of Research, Development and Innovation (R&DI) in Ghana.
