Education programme in IP to be introduced

A framework agreement with a number of ministries and institutions in Oman and WIPO Academy will see training and capacity building in Intellectual Property.

This agreement is in the final stages. “It is essentially to train and build capacity especially to train the national trainers who would be able to pass the knowledge to others in the area of IP. There are also other agreements looking for cooperation with the Sultan Qaboos University for setting up a masters programme as well as organising a summer school in IP, there is also cooperation aimed with the Judicial Institute, where there will be training of judges who introduce the concept to other judges. Another important agreement is with the Ministry of Education, which aims to introduce the concepts of invention, innovation and creativity for children in schools,” said Sherif Saadallah, Executive Director, WIPO Academy.

This year the theme observed on the World Intellectual Property Day, celebrated under the auspices of Dr Muna bint Salim al Jarjaniyah, Under-secretary of the Ministry of Manpower for Technical Education and Vocational Training, by The Research Council (TRC) with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and World Intellectual Property Organisation at the National Bank of Oman, was Women in Innovation.

A workshop conducted on the day featured enterprising women who shared their challenges and success stories.

During his keynote address Dr Hilal bin Ali al Hinai, SecretaryGeneral of The Research Council (TRC), said, “As intellectual property and knowledge transfer is one of the four pillars of the National Innovation Strategy, the team responsible for the activation of the programmes and activities of this pillar has developed a national plan for education and training in the field of intellectual property, in cooperation with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Academy, and the intellectual property concerned institutions in the Sultanate. The plan is expected to start this year.”

“The Intellectual Property pillar had successfully managed to achieve one of its important initiatives which is the establishment of the Omani Intellectual Property Society that held its first meeting recently,” Dr Hilal added. Sherif Saadallah, Executive Director, at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), said, “Based on a UNESCO report, women are still the minority in the field of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.”

“It is worth mentioning that despite the percentage of female Arab researchers in the Arab countries constitute 37 per cent of the total number of researchers, which has not reached 50 per cent, the percentage is still higher than that of female researchers in the European Union,” he added.

According to the report of Global Indicators of Intellectual Property, issued in 2017, the total number of patents applications submitted by female innovators increased three times from 22,600 applications to 62,400 applications.

“WIPO’S reports focused on the empowerment of women in intellectual property,” Sherif Saadallah said.