WIPO Regional Forum on Intellectual Property (IP) for Women in STEM and Entrepreneurs
January 30, 2024
The forum took place at Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic from December 11 to 13, 2023, organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in cooperation with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of the Dominican Republic with the support of the Japan Patent Office (JPO) via the Funds-In-Trust Japan Industrial Property Global.
The objective of the forum was to receive feedback from mentored participants of the projects, IP Women in STEM and IP for Women Entrepreneurs, on the value of the programs and their methodologies to improve future editions, as well as to offer a space for the exchange of experience and the creation of a community of women in IP.
A total of 25 women from the mentoring phase of the above-mentioned projects participated in the forum; 21 participated onsite and 4 participated online. The onsite participants came from Argentina (3), Brazil (2), Chile (3), Colombia (1), Mexico (1), Panama (1), Paraguay (3), Peru (3), Dominican Republic (1) and Salvador (3).
The Forum was opened by the Vice Minister of Industry and Commerce, Ms. Vilma Arbaje, which was followed by a panel presenting initiatives supporting women through IP from WIPO, JPO and National Institute of Industrial Property of Brazil (INPI).
Following a brief presentation by the consultants of the projects, one participant of each of them shared their success story after the mentoring.
The participants joined three work activities with agile methodologies for creativity and innovative entrepreneurship, each of which focused on facilitating synergy and rapport among the participants, deepening the challenges and benefits they had encountered in applying the IP knowledge, and obtaining specific feedback on the methodologies used and the content taught in the projects.
In addition, in the open dialog part, the participants shared and presented their projects and products, as well as exchanged concerns and recommendations among themselves based on their own experiences. These dialogues revealed the synergy created among them and the openness to share their experiences with others to help them overcome challenges.
