By: Dwight Links
Namibia unveiled its own Technology and Innovation Support Centre (TISC) desk in Windhoek at the end of July.
The National Commission on Research, Science and Technology (NCRST) launched it in order to strengthen the country’s research, innovation and intellectual property capabilities.
It also allows innovators and researchers to access other intellectual property resources like expired IPs and other resources.
Coming into fruition after being in development for two years, according to NCRST’s CEO Anicia Peters, this TISC is the result of a license that the commission needed to have.
“We applied for the license – and the TISC desk is two computers – and you can access all expired patents, worldwide, at these computers,” Peters explained.
Peters explained that TISCs are databases of expired patents that any Namibian innovator or researcher can access.
“Innovators, business people, entrepreneurs and researchers will get access to this resource for free under the mandate of the NCRST,” Peters highlighted.
Peters noted that Namibia University of Science and Technology also has a TISC, but that its access requires a fee.
The access comes with a caveat in that any user who gains access cannot use these properties as they are, but rather has to add something new to the original patent and build up from that.
The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) allows for this access to be installed locally in a country that is party to it, and various interest groups or individuals have the opportunity to access these tools through the local mandated agencies like the NCRST or the Business Intellectual Property Authority (BIPA).
The NCRST TISC Desk is the second such platform in the country, following the launch of NUST’s TISC in 2023.
NCRST will have two TISC desks, one at the innovation centre based at the Franco-Namibian Cultural Centre and one at its head office in Olympia, Windhoek.
ADVANCING INNOVATION
Nhlanhla Lupahla, the general manager for Research, Science, Technology and Innovation Coordination and Support at the NCRST, notes that this key development will assist in research development in the country.
“This will help with academics, even for university researchers, to conduct their respective activities with this installation of the TISC,” Lupahla indicated in the context of the mandate that is present in the country.
In terms of outlining what has been the performance of innovation development, Lupahla noted that this is one negative that has been difficult for the country to provide.
“Because institutions – when we speak of business innovation and research institutions – our data frameworks are still not well coordinated enough to provide that data promptly for international reporting,” Lupahla noted on systems that seem fragmented in the country.
According to him, it impacts how Namibia can be viewed by international funders on what this depiction of the data system looks like.
He said that if there is no data to reflect how the country is performing, this affects the visibility of the country.
“This is why we have been improving on the Science, Technology and Innovation focal points to improve,” Lupahla added.
In April 2009, WIPO was mandated by its member states to carry out a pilot project to establish Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISCs) within the framework of WIPO’s Development Agenda.
This project called on WIPO to facilitate the national offices of developing countries, especially Least Developed Countries, as well as their regional and sub regional intellectual property organizations to access specialized databases.
The project, approved by the member states, comprises two core clusters of activities; access to specialised databases and capacity building.
