CSIR drives agenda to extract IP value for industrial development

28 July 2021 News

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) urged innovators and industry to maximise and explore the value of intellectual property (IP) to fast-track ideas to the market for the benefit of society. The organisation also called on South Africa’s researchers, innovators and businesses to partner with it to develop and commercialise products and technologies.

On 7 July 2021, the CSIR hosted a webinar on IP and industry, focusing on the role of IP and small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) in taking ideas to the market. The event, hosted as part of the CSIR’s 75-year celebrations, aimed to highlight the importance of understanding the legal and regulatory framework for effective IP exploitation, closing the gap between research and the market and converting IP into commercial enterprises.

The CSIR event was in line with the World IP Day 2021 theme, ‘SMEs and IP: Taking your ideas to market’. The theme recognises that SMMEs are the backbone of national economies and make up a large percentage of job creation, which can be fostered using IP.

The CSIR, as a research organisation, believes that IP plays a critical role in encouraging creativity and innovation in the country. The organisation recognises the role that SMMEs play in the economy and is committed to supporting them. Its strategy invites collaboration with universities, communities and entrepreneurs by providing access to scientific infrastructure and expertise across the value chain.

For example, the recently launched Photonic Prototyping Facility provides the necessary infrastructure, skills and expertise for the prototyping and product development of photonics technologies, which will lead to competitive offerings being available for transfer to established industry and new or emerging SMMEs. The organisation further called on South African scientists, researchers, engineers, industries, SMMEs and entrepreneurs and investors to use this facility to develop photonic-related products.

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