Commercialisation of Research and Development (R&D) outputs is a key issue for the 79 member countries of the OACPS as it is an essential lever for unlocking their innovation potential, accelerating their economic growth and increasing their competitiveness.
Bringing to the market new products, services, processes and technologies developed through R&D activities can be a very complex and challenging process, as it requires investment (development, marketing, intellectual property management …), a thorough understanding of the market and the regulatory environment, networking expertise and good collaboration between researchers, industry leaders, government, society and investors.
The debate will focus on the following issues:
- How to create an environment that promotes collaboration between academia, industry, government and civil society and accelerates the uptake of R&D outputs.
- How government policies and regulations can best support the commercialisation of R&D outputs while also protecting the public interest (accessibility of new technologies and products, positive impact on people's lives, etc.).
The course of the session
The debate will be introduced by Mr.Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti, Secretary-General of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS).It will then be led by the moderator in an interactive format with the 5 speakers (see below what points they will cover) and regularly fed with questions from participants.
- Mr. Alioune Faye of VaRRIWA and Mrs. Lionelle Ngo-Samnick of PDTIE, Coordinators of two ACP Innovation Fund supported projects in Western and Central Africa.
They will share their experiences and initial results achieved by their respective projects, whose main goal is creating an incentive environment for technology transfer, commercialisation of results and sustainable and green innovations by researchers and innovators.
- Mrs. Legena Henry, CEO of Rum & Sargassum, a company from Barbados involved in SarGASsum, one of the projects operating within the ACP Innovation Fund supported project HIT RESET (Caribbean region).
She will talk about her company, a spin-off of research results generated at the Renewable Energy Development Laboratory (University of the West Indies), and how SarGASsum is contributing to commercialising the use of Sargassum (seaweed) for the production of biogas as a means towards the transition into green energy in Barbados.
Mr Tom Peter Migun Ogada, Chairman of the Board of the Kenya National Innovation Agency (KeNIA).He will testify about the Policy Support Facility (PSF) service in Kenya, its value in contributing to improving the commercialisation of R&D outputs in Kenya, and how the service recommendations have contributed to the launch of the Institutional Commercialisation Support initiative.
- Mr Mucktarr Darboe, Director of STI, Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology, The Gambia.
He will talk about the Policy Support Facility (PSF) service in The Gambia, the setting up of a national Innovation Fund, and how innovation funds, along with reinforcing Technology Transfer Offices, Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Offices, and establishing technoparks, etc., can improve the commercialisation of R&D outputs.
