The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) partnered with the Policy Innovation Centre (PIC) at the Gender and Inclusion Summit 2026, held under the theme From Agenda to Action: Making Innovations Count for the Last Mile.
As part of the Inclusive Digital Transformation Forum, WIPO Nigeria delivered a session titled Innovation and Intellectual Property: From Idea to Impact, bringing together innovators, investors and ecosystem actors to explore how IP can support the development, protection and commercialization of health innovations, particularly those designed to reach underserved communities.
Opening the session, Oluwatobiloba Moody, Director, WIPO Nigeria Office, provided context on the strategic role of IP in health innovation. He was followed by Siddhartha Prakash, Head, Global Health, WIPO, who introduced the IP for Medical Innovation and Manufacturing Centre of Excellence, which provides IP training and capacity-building support to governments, industry and innovators.
The session drew on the WIPO-WHO-ITU publication, AI-enabled Health Innovation and IP: From Idea to Impact, developed through the Global Initiative on AI for Health.
The session drew on the WIPO-WHO-ITU publication, AI-enabled Health Innovation and IP: From Idea to Impact, developed through the Global Initiative on AI for Health.
Natalie Raffoul, Managing Partner and Co-founder, Brion Raffoul LLP and co-author of the publication, guided participants through the Innovation Life Cycle IP Matrix, demonstrating how IP considerations can evolve from ideation and development through commercialization and scale.
The practical dimension of the session was reinforced by Nigerian health innovator Kemisola Bolarinwa, who shared her experience developing a smart bra for breast cancer detection and highlighted how IP protection supported her innovation journey, including opportunities for investment, grants and commercialization. Participants subsequently applied the lifecycle framework to case studies drawn from Nigerian health innovation scenarios, identifying key IP considerations at different stages of technology development. These case study discussions were facilitated by Mr. Abdul Argungu, Program Officer, WIPO Nigeria Officer, and Ms. Bolaji Gabari, Associate Partner, SPA Ajibade & Co.
The session demonstrated how tools developed through AI-enabled Health Innovation and IP: From Idea to Impact can move from publication to practical application, while contributing to wider discussions on strengthening health innovation policy and ecosystem development in Nigeria.
WIPO's participation reaffirmed its commitment to supporting innovators and ecosystem actors to use IP strategically to move health solutions from idea to impact, helping create stronger pathways for technologies to reach the communities that need them most.
