Between August and October 2025, national intellectual property (IP) offices and ministries of education in Chile, Jordan, and Uganda partnered with the WIPO Academy to deliver IP and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) awareness sessions in public secondary schools. The sessions were part of the Development Agenda Project titled “Empowering Youth (K-12) to Innovate for a Better Future”. More than one thousand secondary school students aged between fifteen and eighteen years of age learned how IP helps protect and promote creative and innovative ideas.
These sessions marked the first time national IP authorities shared information directly with secondary school students on innovation and IP protection. The early introduction of these concepts aims to create a new generation of informed creators and problem-solvers who understand how IP & STEM can support innovation.
A STEM hackathon in Chile
The Ministry of Education, the Undersecretariat of International Economic Relations (SUBREI), the National Institute of Industrial Property (INAPI), and the Local Education Service of Valparaíso worked with the WIPO Academy to host the IP and STEM awareness session in Valparaíso on August 14, 2025. Youth Innovators Micheline Silva and Darlyn Riquelme shared the stories behind their STEM-based projects and organized a mini-STEM hackathon for 90 secondary school students from seven schools in Valparaíso. Students designed prototypes to address local water scarcity challenges, presented solutions, and learned how the national IP system supports innovation.
Mobilizing youth IP applications in Uganda
On September 25 and October 3, 2025, the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) and the Ministry of Education held IP & STEM awareness sessions in Lira and Kampala. Three youth innovators Namatovu Ramizah, Marry Nangobi, and Prosper Ahimbisibwe described their innovations and their experiences in registering utility models and patents. Their contributions supported youth in understanding how IP, STEM and the URSB services help protect and advance innovations.
IP & STEM awareness in Jordan
On October 20 2025, the Industrial Property Protection Directorate and the Ministry of Education delivered an IP and STEM awareness session for more than 90 secondary school students at King Abdallah II School in Maadaba. This initiative marks the first time national IP stakeholders have directly engaged secondary school students in Jordan. These secondary students had been developing creative STEM projects with real-world potential yet often lacked awareness of how IP can protect and scale their ideas.
