Human Resources Development
The Arab Bureau concentrates on developing and empowering individuals in order to forge an intellectual property culture in the Arab region and to promote the awareness and understanding of the legal aspects of intellectual property rights.
In this regard, the Arab Bureau cooperates with a number of academic institutions and universities in the Arab countries in order to introduce the teaching of intellectual property law. This cooperation involves providing assistance in developing an intellectual property curriculum that could be adapted to meet the needs of each university, sending intellectual property publications and documents which could serve as reference and teaching material, training professors on the methods of teaching intellectual property law at renowned universities, sending visiting professors to make presentations on various intellectual property subjects, and organizing seminars on intellectual property for faculty members and students.
Particular reference is made to the Sagesse University (Lebanon), the Faculties of Law of Cairo University (Egypt) and University of Jordan which has introduced a Masters Degree Program in the field of Intellectual Property that was conducted for the first time over the academic year 2001/2002. WIPO also provided assistance and advice for setting-up similar programs in the Lebanese University (Lebanon), Khartoum University (Sudan) and the Ajman University of Science and Technology AUST Network (United Arab Emirates).
In collaboration with the Egyptian Board on Books for Young People (EBBY), the Arab bureau has initiated a project to prepare simplified scientific material on intellectual property for distribution to children and youth in schools and educational institutions.
The Bureau in cooperation with WIPO Worldwide Academy organizes sessions on intellectual property for government officials from the Arab region. The main objective of these Academy sessions is to raise awareness of the importance of intellectual property rights as a useful tool for economic, social, cultural and technological development and to provide a forum for exchanging views and experiences in the promotion and protection of intellectual property rights among decision-makers, policy advisers and other senior officials and experts.
The Bureau also organizes individual and collective training programs for the personnel of intellectual property offices. The training usually takes place in developed intellectual property offices that exist in other Arab countries or in Europe.
