The Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi Pandor, will deliver the keynote address at an indaba organised to discuss the role of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in the development of the economy.
All media are invited to attend.
Details of the event are as follows:
Date: Friday, 20 November 2009
Time: 10h00 to 10h30
Venue: Auditorium, Indaba Hotel, Fourways
Scheduled for 19 and 20 November 2009, the IPR indaba is being hosted by the Free Market Foundation of Southern Africa.
Core topics to be covered include the role of IPR in healthcare, innovation IPR, protecting African artists, piracy, realising the full potential of intellectual property from publicly financed research, and reducing hunger in Africa.
Increasingly, the role that intellectual property plays in accelerating a country’s economic development has come under the spotlight. Governments worldwide have focused energy on the development of intellectual property policies specific to their environments and contexts.
The Department of Science and Technology developed the Intellectual Property Rights from Publicly Financed Research Act to ensure the effective use of intellectual property resulting from publicly financed research and development. The act provides for an enabling environment for the creation, protection, management and commercialisation intellectual property.
It is aimed at facilitating the creation of new knowledge and securing it in the form of IPR, including patents.
About the Free Market Foundation
The Free Market Foundation of Southern Africa is an independent policy research and education organisation, which was founded in 1975 to promote the principles of limited government, economic freedom and individual liberty.
It has an interest in a range of issues affecting human development. For the past two years the Foundation has convened an annual indaba focused on IPR policy in the context of South Africa.
Enquiries:
Lunga Ngqengelele
Tel: 012 843 6802
Cell: 082 566 0446
E-mail: Lunga.ngqengelele@dst.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Science and Technology
18 November 2009
