The Department of Trade and Industry (the dti), in collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) will host a National Training of Trainers (TOT) Programme on Effective Intellectual Property Asset Management by Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises from,October 29-31 in Pretoria.
According to the Deputy Director-General of Consumer and Corporate Regulation Division at the dti Ms Zodwa Ntuli, the objective of the TOT programme is to create a critical mass of trainers in a country who have the basic knowledge, skills and experience to provide preliminary Intellectual Property (IP) assistance to students, entrepreneurs, and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) on effective IP asset management to enhance the competitiveness and sustainability of the SMEs in the domestic and international markets.
“This kind of preliminary IP assistance to be provided by the persons trained in the TOT programme, will include advice or technical assistance on how to identify, protect, exploit and manage IP assets, whether owned by an entrepreneur or an SME, licensed by him from another entity or created in partnership with another entity,” says Ntuli.
Participants who have been invited were drawn from SME support institutions in the country, being, amongst others, chambers of commerce and industry, export or investment promotion agencies, financial institutions, technology transfer offices linked to universities and/or research institutions, small business consulting firms at the national, provincial and local levels for promotion of development of entrepreneurship, micro enterprises and SMEs, including sector specific entities.
The training is as a result of capacity-building initiatives from WIPO to member states stemming from the 45 recommendations of the Development Agenda of WIPO. South Africa is a Member of WIPO. Studies on the effective use of IP by SMMEs with specific focus on the four domains of IP, namely patents, designs, trademarks and copyright are underway and will be published before the end of the 2013/14 financial year.
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