Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania - March 14, 2013
To flourish, innovation requires supporting frameworks that enable investment, research and the deployment and diffusion of new ideas. The Regional Preparatory Meeting for Africa, to be held by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in Dar es Salaam (United Republic of Tanzania), will address what innovation can bring to Africa, how to set up supportive innovation policies, and what role different actors need to play in spurring innovation domestically.
This is the first time that WIPO has co-organized a regional preparatory meeting with ECOSOC. The meeting will be hosted at the Hyatt hotel by the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania in cooperation with the Government of Japan, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA).
Topics and Speakers
In line with this year’s theme for ECOSOC – “Science, Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Development” – the meeting will bring together Ministers, senior experts and practitioners from the region to identify integrated approaches and concrete policy measures that the ECOSOC can promote to accelerate progress on sustainable development and achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The meeting will be opened by representatives of the host government, the United Republic of Tanzania, and the Government of Japan who are supporting the event.
Keynote speakers:
- Francis Gurry, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO);
- Wu Hongbo, the United Nations Under Secretary General for Policy Coordination and Inter-agency Affairs, Department of Economic and Social Affairs;
- Ambassador Néstor Osorio, President of the ECOSOC, Permanent Representative of Colombia to the United Nations in New York.
Meeting Background
The meeting is part of a series of regional preparatory consultations taking place in 2013 and it will make an important contribution to the upcoming ECOSOC Annual Ministerial Review to be held at the United Nations Office at Geneva in July, on the theme "Science, technology and innovation, and the potential of culture, for promoting sustainable development and achieving the MDGs".
The ECOSOC Regional Preparatory Meeting for Africa will follow the African Conference on the Strategic Importance of IP Policies to Foster Innovation, Value Creation and Competitiveness, organized by WIPO and the Japan Patent Office, in cooperation with the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania.