AfrIPI: supporting African IP rights policy, Intra-African trade and European SMEs' investments in Africa

On 1 February 2022, Newton Media, UK Limited, the publisher of the World IP Review (WIPR), hosted a webinar titled AfrIPI: Supporting African IP Rights policy, Intra-African Trade and European SMEs' Investments in Africa.
The purpose of the webinar was to showcase the AfrIPI project and its activities, whose overall objective is to facilitate intra-African trade and African and European investment. The session revolved around promoting best practices in patent examination and practices in Africa, supporting the African Union’s continental strategy for geographical indications and supporting European SMEs through helpdesk activities.
The AfrIPI speakers comprised Nancy Samuriwo, AfrIPI IPR expert, Dr Monique Bagal, AfrIPI geographical indications expert and Beata Suwala, Africa IP SME Helpdesk coordinator.
Nancy presented an overview of the main legal frameworks available for patent and other IP protection in Africa. Monique discussed AfrIPI’s activities on geographical indications in Africa, their aims, objectives, success stories and the way forward. Additionally, Beata discussed Africa IP SMEs helpdesk's role, aims, and objectives in promoting European SMEs’ business investments in Africa.
Overall, the webinar raised awareness of AfrIPI’s existence among European businesses and organisations involved with patents and other IP forms and increased AfrIPI’s visibility to various stakeholders.