By Edmund Quaynor/Janet Owusuwaa Ansah, GNA
Koforidua, Dec. 14, GNA – The Koforidua
Technical University (KTU) has instituted a policy to annually reward students
who come up with innovative and marketable ideas.
This was announced by the Vice-Chancellor of
KTU, Professor David Essumang at the launching of the KTU Institutional
Intellectual Property (IP) Policy Pilot Project at Koforidua.
The Institutional IP Policy Pilot Project is
to help KTU to develop IPÂ policy which
would enable the university to develop a framework for identifying
research work of students and lecturers
that need to be registered under the IP law and how to apply the new ideas for
the benefit of society, the researchers and the university.
Responding to questions from the media, Prof
Essumang said, work that qualify for registration as IP are not only those
complicated discoveries but also simple discoveries or improvement of existing
tools and equipment at workshops and institutions that help to improve upon the
lives of people and society including literary work and public speeches.
Professor Tom Ogada, an IP Consultant from
Kenya, said the essence of IP policy in the university is to help identify IP
in the research work of the students and staff of the university.
He said the public is investing money into
research and the results of research should be able to have an economic impact
on the society.
He said the importance of IP is to create an
environment so that the researcher and the university could share in the
economic impact of their work on the society.
Prof Ogada called on KYTU to establish a
strong IP unit and train the staff of the unit to help the researchers,
students and the university community to benefit from their efforts.
He said where the research is being funded
by the private sector or the university, the memorandum of understanding should
state clearly who contributes what and how the benefits would be shared among
the players in the project.
Mrs Loretta Asiedu, Senior Counsellor,
Regional Bureau for Africa Development Sector of the World Intellectual
Property Organization (WIPO), said KTU is among the five universities selected
in Africa to participate in the pilot project out of the 46 institutions that
applied for consideration.
She said institutional IP policy in Africa
Universities is low and so in Ghana, the universities have been classified into
three groups to be supported with guidelines of WIPO to develop strong IP
policies for their institutions.
Mrs Asiedu said the essence is to support
the institutions to develop infrastructure that would help identify and
commercialize the IP.
Dr Frank Agyen Dwomoh of the KTU IP
Committee said to implement the KTU IP policy, the university needs to build a
good and well-trained IP unit and the students and staff need to be well
informed about the IP policy of the university.
He proposed that the IP policy of the
university should be made accessible online and be put in the students
handbook.
He called for more efforts to be made to
raise the awareness of the university society about the IP policy of the
institution.
GNA
