News and Events

IUIU Participates in the National Intellectual Property Week

• 23rd February, 2023 12:05pm

The Islamic University in Uganda (IUIU) participated in the National Intellectual Property Week workshop at Serena Hotel in Kampala from 21^st to 22^nd February 2023. The workshop intended to raise awareness on the various opportunities within the Intellectual Property (IP) emanating from Universities and Research and Development institutions. Much of the emphasis was primarily on the usage of institutional IP policies to promote impactful innovations within Universities and independent organisations undertaking Research and Development activities. The event was organised by the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) with sponsorship from the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), in partnership with Japan Patent Office (JPO) and the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO).

As a key player in Uganda’s Research and Innovation Ecosystem as well as a member of WIPO’s Technology and Innovation Support Centre (TISC) Network, IUIU was invited to take part in the workshop and was duly represented by Dr Umar Yahya, the IUIU – TISC Coordinator and Ms Kamama Kurusum, a Lecturer in the Faculty of Law.

One of the key aspects of the workshop was hands-on training on the formulation and construction processes of an institutional IP policy benchmarked against both Uganda’s National IP policy as well as WIPO’s IP Policy template.  The participants will therefore be expected to spearhead the development of IP policies to complement the existing frameworks stipulated in their respective Universities’ Research Policies. “We thank the Rector, Professor Ismail, for nominating us to take part in this very important National workshop. Therefore, we must work hand-in-hand with the Directorate of Research Publications and Innovations (RPI) to fast-track the development of an IP policy customised to our IUIU’s needs. We have done quite well as a University as far as handling the other academic-based forms of IP. However, we are yet to achieve the same as far as the other forms of IP are concerned, particularly those that have some commercial viability. The IP policy will be fundamental in this endeavour”, said Dr Yahya.