IP legislation being finalised

By Siyabonga Africa for Department of Science and Technology
Johannesburg, 10 Sep 2008

The Department of Science and Technology (DST) is drafting legislation that will encourage the development of local intellectual property (IP) by providing public funding.

The legislation will also ensure the country and innovators will benefit from the IP being developed into commercial products.

"We recognise that IP is an instrument for economic growth and improvement of the quality of life," says science and technology minister Mosibudi Mangena. "To this end, we are promulgating the Intellectual Property Rights from Publicly Financed Research and Development Legislation."

The legislation is part of the DST's broader research and development (R&D) programme. The initiative aims to develop a strong base of research expertise and development of novel ICT products and services.

These products and services include mobile and wireless technologies, cyber-infrastructure, high-performance computing, open source software, as well as software engineering and development.

Mangena explains that the legislation not only provides an enabling environment for IP creation, protection and management, it also supports the commercialisation of IP by providing greater clarity on the ownership generated through publicly financed research. So, depending on the size of the funding, innovators will know exactly how much money they are entitled to with regards to product sales.

Building capacity

He adds the legislation will have a framework for the establishment of capacity to ensure local institutions are better able to identify, protect and commercialise IP arising from research conducted by those institutions.

The DST is also working to establish the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), which, Mangena says, will close the gap between the formal knowledge base and the real economy.

"The TIA will be able to address the barriers to the commercialisation of technological innovations by, among others, consolidating the fragmented funding instruments."

The DST states the TIA Bill has gone through all the necessary Parliamentary stages and has been forwarded to the president for approval and signing.

The minister is optimistic about the success of the proposed agency. "With the advent of the TIA, we are looking forward to the era when most of the applied research successes will translate into real economic value for the inventors and people of SA."

Earlier media reports state the DST has R3.7 billion to spend on R&D this year, and a further R195 million for strengthening the scientific capacity of higher education institutions.

"This investment in human capital development is in line with the department's national R&D strategy, which, among others, puts enormous value on human capital, and canvasses for the spirit and practice of innovation to be treated as a national asset," adds Mangena.