Health Research in Africa: Sharing IP Resources to Deliver Results

• Author: Aimable Twahirwa
• Position: Participant in the peer-to-peer mentoring scheme of the International Federation of Science Journalist (WFSJ)

In September 2004, WIPO announced the launch of an innovative interdisciplinary project in six countries of the Central Africa Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) and in Colombia. The project aimed to develop a sustainable model to support health research institutions in developing countries in protecting and commercializing their research results. Three years on, Rwandan science journalist, Aimable Twahirwa, spoke to some of the scientists involved in coordinating the project in Cameroon and Gabon. He filed this report for WIPO Magazine.

"The move came after the observation that research institutions in most sub-Saharan countries took no - or little - consideration of intellectual property (IP) in their scientific research processes," said Dr. Alphonse Emadak, head of the inorganic chemistry department at Yaoundé University in Cameroon.

As a consequence of not using the IP system, Dr. Emadak explained, developing country researchers did not "own" the results of their research, and were unable to benefit from their commercial exploitation. High quality results generated by African research institutions, he said, were siphoned off into developed countries, with practically no "feedback" and no income generated by the research.

In order to survive, research institutions needed to be able to adapt to the newly emerging environment, characterized by Dr. Emadak as liberalization at the national level, and globalization at the international stage.

Networks and hubs

The WIPO project, funded by the Geneva International Academic Network (GIAN) and other organizations, developed a model to address the lack of IP-related capacity in these countries. It was based on creating networks of R&D institutions supported by shared "hubs" of IP services. By pooling resources and using economies of scale, costs could be kept affordable.

As a result, 22 health research institutions in Cameroon, Gabon, Republic of Congo, Chad, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea established a set of common policies to enable them to share IP services and to become an R&D network. A parallel project was also set up in Colombia in Latin America.

"Through this R&D network, central African institutions participating in this initiative are now sharing resources to process patent applications and commercialize research results," Dr Emadak said.

The project includes four main...