The Innovation Hub hosts workshop on patents
31 October 2012
News
The Innovation Hub recently partnered with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), National Intellectual Property Management Office (NIPMO) and Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) in hosting a two-day workshop titled ‘Access to Technology for Innovation – Patent Search Strategies and Techniques’ with the aim of benefiting South African entrepreneurs, academics and technology based SMEs.
The Innovation Hub is a subsidiary of the Gauteng Growth Development Agency (GGDA), which is in turn an agency of the Gauteng Department of Economic Development.
Aimed at fostering innovation in South Africa, the workshop brought together representatives from academia, public and private sectors to hold discussions on the value of patent information, tools and strategies for locating patents.
The roles of The Innovation Hub, CIPC, NIPMO and the Southern African Research and Innovations Managers Association were discussed, as well as the specific role of WIPO’s Technology and Innovation Support Centres (TISC) programme. Delegates also underwent training on patent search strategies.
The WIPO TISCs offer a wide range of services aimed at assisting small and medium enterprises and university researchers to fully exploit their innovative potential and to create, protect and manage their intellectual property rights. Delegate training on patent search strategies demonstrated the use of open access patent databases and included a number of online searches.
Patent searches are critical to understanding the competitive landscape and are seen as essential for the development of stronger patent portfolios that ultimately support the growth of competitive businesses to generate income and jobs at community and regional levels.
For more information visit www.theinnovationhub.com
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