Highlights

The European Investment Bank, in its role as lead of the Center for Mediterranean Integration (CMI) programme “Innovation Capacities”, organised a workshop on the development of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) in the Southern Mediterranean on the 7th of June, 2013 in Paris. This workshop was part of the annual “World Conference on Intellectual Capital for Communities” in its 9th edition, organised by the European Chair on Intellectual Capital (University Paris Sud). It was preceded by the launch of a report in Rabat “Transforming Arab Economies: Traveling the Knowledge and Innovation Road” addressing the importance of investing in a knowledge-Economy (KE) in the MENA region, and by the “declaration of Rabat” committing Arab countries to pursue innovation and Knowledge Economy models.
The objectives of the workshop were: to stimulate the debate about IPR in the region through a platform hosting relevant stakeholders from both MENA and European countries enabling a dynamic of exchange on experiences and expectations; to address the main issues around IPR and intangible assets; and to define an agenda promoting a market that is driven by the valorisation of Intellectual Property (IP) assets.

At this occasion, the University of Paris Sud presented a study on the potential patent market in the Southern Mediterranean Region, followed by discussions between representatives of governmental institutions in partnering countries including Egypt and Morocco, with experts from organizations such as the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), the OECD, the European Investment Fund (EIF) and the Talal Abu Ghazaleh Organisation (Jordan), the leading consultant on IPR in the MENA-region. Participants were invited to comment on the report before engaging into two full sessions of expertise and experience sharing about intellectual property regimes in the MENA region, their particularities, pitfalls, and potential.