The Vice-Chancellor Prof Isaac Kibwage, on 1 March 2022, opened the sensitization workshop for universities, TVETs and Research Institutions in the Central Rift Valley Region on Intellectual Property (IP) at Main Campus in Njoro.
The University and the Kenya Industrial Property Institute (KIPI) jointly organized the workshop running from 1 to 4 March and is covering topics on intellectual property rights in Kenya, patents, access to various patent databases, copyright and related rights in Kenya, among others.
In his opening remarks, the Vice-Chancellor Prof. Kibwage noted that the University had made strides in developing and revising the Intellectual Property Policy.
“IP is at the heart of what we do as an institution. In recognition of this central role of IP, Egerton University produced its first IP policy in 2014 and is currently finalizing on the approval processes of a revised edition. The revised IP policy is guided by three key principles as articulated in World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), namely Responsible commercialization, Incentives, and Community development,” said Prof. Kibwage.
The acting Managing Director of Kenya Industrial Property Institute Mr John Onyango (left), and Egerton University’s Vice-Chancellor Prof. Isaac Kibwage (right) follow the proceedings of a sensitization workshop for Universities, TVETs and Research Institutions in the Central Rift Valley region on Intellectual Property at Main Campus in Njoro on 1 March 2022. The workshop is running from 1 to 4 March 2022.
He added, “IP policy at Egerton is formulated to create an enabling environment that recognizes and values creativity and innovations while simultaneously assisting in translating them into profitably exploitable products, processes, and services for the benefit of humanity, the University and its staff and students and to those of her partners.”
Egerton University has developed and registered over 15 plant varieties with KEPHIS that include beans, pigeon peas, groundnuts and sorghum varieties. In addition, several other technologies are in various stages of registration and/or commercialization.
The Vice-Chancellor said that the University had made progress in establishing a Technology and Innovation Support Center (TISC) through an MoU with KIPI. TISC will be at Main Campus and will provide a ready pool of science and technical experts with the competence to conduct patent search, patent drafting as well as assist in patent prosecution and benefit from the IP capacity-building interventions of KIPI and WIPO, which will ultimately result in increased IP creation, protection and commercialization.
The acting Managing Director at KIPI, Mr John Onyango, while giving his opening remarks, said that innovations were catalysts to economic growth and that patenting the innovations offered more effective tools for knowledge sharing and transfer of technology.
The Division of Research and Extension, led by acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research & Extension) Prof. Bockline Bebe and acting Director Research Prof. Nancy Mungai, convened the workshop on behalf of the University.
