Sharing Knowledge
and Building IP Skills
The WIPO Academy Review 2020–2021
Over 70% of beneficiaries of the Academy’s intellectual property (IP) skills-building courses are from developing countries and 54% are women.
This remarkable achievement reflects the quality of programs offered, along with the growing recognition of the pivotal role of IP knowledge and skills to economic and social development, business development and job creation, particularly in the context of post-COVID-19 pandemic economic recovery.
The COVID-19 pandemic drove unprecedented demand for online training and education, leading to the acceleration of the WIPO Academy’s digital transformation. The Distance Learning (DL) Program was long a front runner in providing online IP courses, but as a result of the pandemic and to ensure continuity in the Academy’s offerings, there was an urgent need to switch all Academy programs to online and hybrid delivery.
Increased investments in the Academy’s IT infrastructure and the Academy’s state-of-the-art eLearning platform helped facilitate broader access to courses and significantly reduced participation costs, enabling participants from across the world to benefit from WIPO’s IP capacity and skills-building activities.
To accommodate increased demand, the DL Program exceptionally extended registration periods, offered more scholarships, introduced virtual lectures on selected IP topics, embarked on additional national course customization projects, and ran extra course sessions.
The training model for the Professional Development Program (PDP) was completely revamped, to include blended learning formats with greater emphasis on distance learning, virtual classrooms and post-training application of knowledge in the workplace through work-based assignments including a final assignment/project and a career-development certification.
The outcome of my project resulted in an even deeper comparison study of international commercialization platforms, which led to South Africa updating its Innovation Bridge Portal to be more user friendly. The Innovation Bridge Portal was updated to further include a start-up community aspect to ensure that the platform creates linkages and networks between regional, national and international innovators, industry, and public and private technology developers, commercialization funding partners, and other relevant innovation players.
Jetane Charsley (South Africa),
PDP alumna and Acting Head, National Intellectual Property Management Office, Department of Science and Technology, South Africa
Listen to Jetane's full testimonial :
The shift to the digital world also stimulated the creation of online networks across the Academy’s programs. In 2021, the WIPO International Network for IP Education (WINIPE), was launched for professors and current students of the Joint Master's Degree Programs to access resources, explore joint ventures, and develop IP educational materials on the virtual platform. The IP Training Institutions (IPTIs) Virtual Network was expanded to include a members’ area to provide a centralized hub for IPTI’s to share information, engage in discussions, and to exchange ideas and news updates on training activities. Lastly, the WIPO Academy continues to grow its alumni network on LinkedIn with over 5,000 members in the WIPO Academy Community group.
As a director of a non-governmental organization, the Centre for Intellectual Property Rights Awareness in Ghana (CIPRAG), whose work revolves around IP, my participation has immensely contributed to my work and the organization at large. I organized an internal seminar to bring my colleagues abreast of the new knowledge acquired to help improve our work performance. I was also appointed to be one of the speakers at IP sensitization forums organized by CIPRAG.
Pearl Edem Yomekpe (Ghana),
WIPO Summer School alumna and Director of the Centre for Intellectual Property Rights Awareness in Ghana
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In line with the new vision of WIPO under the leadership of Director General Daren Tang and the new senior leadership team, 2020/21 also marked a strategic shift in emphasis towards a more strengthened focus on empowering innovators, creators and entrepreneurs – in particular, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), women and young people. The Academy’s courses were reviewed and adapted to realize this vision – shifting focus from knowledge-building to more practical IP skills-building, enabling learners to apply their IP knowledge in more tangible ways.
The WIPO Academy’s IPTIs were strategic in empowering countries to design and deliver skills-building training relevant to national and regional contexts. By the end of 2021, a total of 12 IPTIs were established. The Academy has provided continuous support to all IPTIs throughout the pandemic, sharing online teaching methodologies and supporting national and regional trainers to shift to the online environment.
The training organized by the Sakpatenti IP Training Center (Georgia) taught me about the advantages of using the geographical indications (GIs) and helped me maximize the commercialization of “Ninotsminda Honey” in 2021. Using GIs for my product increased sales and exports. Furthermore, my case served as an inspiration for other local producers wishing to protect Georgian products of exceptional quality and reputation using GIs.
Giorgi Merabishvili (Georgia),
Ninotsminda Honey Producer
The specialized training offered by the National Intellectual Property Academy (NIPA) in Egypt has helped us a lot in our key R&D projects at El-Araby Group for our brand TORNADO, including with our major brand partners such as Dolby, SONY, SHARP and TOSHIBA. The trainers were very supportive and they provided us with a lot of useful resources that helped strengthen our IP knowledge and skills, particularly our patent search skills. Now we are able to easily examine the existing patent literature in Egypt to determine the patentability of a potential product or innovation at the national level. We will continue to rely on the support of NIPA to further improve the IP skills of the entire R&D Department at El-Araby Group.
joint statement from Elreda Elgamal and Mohamed Amer, engineers in the TV Development Team of El-Araby Group, Egypt
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New skills-focused DL courses catering to specific IP-users were developed and launched during 2020/21, including: certification courses on patent drafting and collective management; executive courses on IP and exports, and genetic resources and the life sciences; a specialized course on the Madrid System; and the e-tutorial on using patent information.
The Executive Course on IP and Exports definitely awakened me to an incredible range of professional options that transcend the exercise of IP in the national territory. It also made me realize the benefits that come from thinking beyond a commercial exploitation of IP assets nationally, but in other markets as well, which can substantially improve national business models and thus contribute to the elimination of social gaps between developed and developing countries.
José Manuel Gómez Duque (Colombia),
DL participant in the Executive Course on IP and Exports (DL-730)
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The WIPO Joint Master’s Programs also continued the recent shift from the purely legal aspects of IP to incorporate specialization in the fields of entrepreneurship, IP management and business. This reflected a demand for more specialized higher education degrees and the way in which IP can be used to support business growth and economic and social development.
I loved how the lecturers provided all the necessary resources and tools to help us consolidate the knowledge on the different aspects of IP, and how the courses were well-structured online. The transition to online learning was efficient, and I was still able to connect with classmates to discuss readings and assignments, and this made it such a valuable experience.
Ikome Nalova Hermia,
Cameroonian alumna of the MIP jointly offered by WIPO, OAPI and University of Yaoundé II (class of 2021), and recipient of a scholarship covered by the Government of Japan Funds in-Trust.
Listen to Ikome's full testimonial :
The Master of Laws (LL.M.) in IP, offered jointly by the WIPO Academy and the University of Turin with the support of the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization (ITC-ILO) helped formalize my education in IP. As a non-lawyer in a field dominated by lawyers, the experience of learning from IP law experts and course mates from around the world is really invaluable in building my career in IP and technology transfer. I now apply the knowledge and skills I learned to help scientists, innovators and entrepreneurs identify the patentability and market potential of their inventive and creative works.
Agnes May Bonafe (the Philippines), alumna of the LL.M. in IP jointly offered by WIPO, University of Turin and ITC-ILO and currently an Industry Liaison Specialist at Wilfrid Laurier University
The WIPO Academy was able to leverage its ever growing network of IPTIs to scale up the delivery of tailored skills-building courses for the private sector, which have played a key role in addressing critical areas such as COVID-19 economic recovery, offering new training modules on IP management and commercialization to target audience groups including entrepreneurs and women.
The DL Program also added new activities to its portfolio in 2021 including the Executive Course on IP and Exports, and expanding the IP for Youth and Teachers service.
In 2020, the WIPO IP Youth Ambassadors program was launched, and Ambassadorships have been awarded to nominees from Peru (2020), Georgia (2021) and Viet Nam (2021).
In 2021, the WIPO Academy launched the IP for Youth and Teachers service in the Arabic language with the Egyptian National Intellectual Property Academy at the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology.
In 2021, the Academy started a series of virtual roundtables, organized jointly with the United States Copyright Office, for regional and national IP curricula setters to share teaching strategies and develop international collaboration opportunities among educators.
IP should be considered a key pillar of the school curriculum. Classes that explain the importance and value of IP in schools are the only way to cultivate real interest in the subject among young people so they can get the most out of it.
Santiago Mena López, WIPO IP Youth Ambassador, Peru
If you have a good idea, don’t give up on it. Start now, write it down and make a plan. People will encourage and discourage you, so you just need to be self-motivated at the end of the day. With access to a computer and internet you can achieve anything.
Tamari Tateshvili, WIPO IP Youth Ambassador, Georgia
Republic of Korea Funds-in-Trust for IP Education
The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) continued to be one of the Academy’s key partners, in particular through the Funds-in-Trust established with a focus on IP education. In 2020/21 this enabled the joint organization of:
- The WIPO-Korea Summer Schools;
- WIPO-KIPO Professional Development courses covering areas such as patents, designs, trademarks and examination for government officials;
- Joint Master’s Program in IP and Development Policy at the Korea Development Institute School of Public Policy and Management;
- Advanced International Certificate Course on IP Asset Management for Business Success;
- Women Leaders in IP and Invention Launchpad; and
- Artificial Intelligence & IP Workshop.
Japan Funds-in-Trust
The Government of Japan has placed particular emphasis on supporting the Academy’s work in Africa through the Funds-in-Trust (FIT/JP IP Global). These funds have been hugely important in facilitating access to the IP higher education:
- WIPO Joint Master’s Degree program with Africa University and the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization;
- WIPO Joint Master’s Degree program with the University of Yaoundé II and the African Intellectual Property Organization; and
- WIPO-South Africa Summer Schools.
China Funds-in-Trust
The WIPO Funds-in-Trust China (FIT/China) and the Chinese Scholarship Council/China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) continued to support the WIPO-Tongji University Joint Master’s Degree by providing scholarships for participants.
Participation in the Academy’s DL courses continued to rise in 2020/2021 with many participants taking advantage of online education during the COVID-19 pandemic, a trend that was particularly evident in 2020. In 2020/2021 participants from Asia & the Pacific, and the Latin American & Caribbean regions constituted 72% of all DL participation, with courses in the Spanish language being second only to those in the English language.
In 2020 and 2021, the WIPO IPTIs organized over 2,000 training activities, training over 160,000 beneficiaries, with the majority (73%) coming from the private sector and academia.
The WIPO Academy received increased demand from Member States for specialized higher education degrees applying IP to a variety of fields such as entrepreneurship, business and new technologies. A large proportion of graduates from the Joint Master’s Degree Programs were from Africa (41%) thanks to scholarships funded by FIT/JP IP Global-Japan. The majority of participants came from either the private sector or academia.
Shifting to the online learning environment increased the accessibility and affordability of the WIPO Summer Schools, providing opportunities for participants from across the world to take part. Participation from Latin America & the Caribbean was at an all-time-high, with the WIPO-Mexico Summer Schools experiencing the highest participation rate in the Academy’s history, with over 1,350 participants in 2020 and 2021.
Participation in the PDP was significantly impacted at the start of the pandemic period, but the program underwent an accelerated digital transformation in 2020 and 2021, with all courses now following a hybrid format. The course content has also shifted focus, with an increased emphasis on practical IP skills applicable to each participant’s national or regional context. The PDP continues to uphold its excellent record of gender parity (50:50) and balanced geographical distribution amongst its participants.
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