WIPO Academy Fortifies Cooperation with Costa Rica and El Salvador
February 12, 2024
WIPO Academy Executive Director, Mr. Sherif Saadallah, met with officials in Costa Rica and El Salvador from January 22 to 26, 2024 to build on the Academy’s commitment to support collaborative initiatives with the established Intellectual Property Training Institutions (IPTIs) in both countries.
On January 23, 2024, Mr. Saadallah met with Mr. Agustín Meléndez García, the Director General of Costa Rica’s National Registry, and Mr. Gustavo Alvarado, the Director of the Costa Rican Tourism Institute, to discuss the “Intellectual Property (IP) and Gastronomic Tourism in Central America and the Dominican Republic” project. The project was launched in the framework of the WIPO Build Back Fund to promote gastro-tourism and boost the economic recovery of the region’s tourism sector in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Discussions were also held on other ongoing projects to bring IP skills-building to local entrepreneurs across Costa Rica. In 2024, further tailored trainings are planned for entrepreneurs in the costal region of Guanacaste and the mountainous region of Pérez Zeledón.
The WIPO Academy delegation also met with Ambassador Carmen Carmen Claramunt, Director of the Diplomatic Academy, and Ambassador María Isabel Sanabria, Deputy Director of the Diplomatic Academy, to discuss the future IP training needs of diplomats in the country. Following the successful experience of training the first cohort of diplomats in 2023, the WIPO Distance Learning Course for Diplomats and Trade Officials will be integrated into the regular curricula and the national program will be delivered for new batches of students. Other virtual introductory sessions will be also conducted for newly joined diplomats.
New frontiers of cooperation in El Salvador
During his visit to El Salvador, Mr. Saadallah signed two agreements with the National Center of Registries (CNR).
The first marked the launch of a new project in cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism on the use of IP to boost surf tourism under WIPO’s Build Back Fund. The second agreement outlined future capacity building cooperation for El Salvador’s priority areas, namely academia, programs for women, green technologies, and the creative industries.
The delegation from WIPO Academy took part in a field visit to the pacific coastal area of the country where the surf-tourism project will be implemented.
Additional meetings were held with Ms. María Luisa Hayem, the Minister of Economy, and Ms. Morena Valdéz, the Minister of Tourism, to discuss ongoing projects in the areas of:
- Gastronomic tourism,
- Technology-based entrepreneurship,
- Green innovation, and
- Women-led start-ups.
On the last day of the visit to El Salvador, Mr. Saadallah met with representatives from the Ministry of Education, the National Council of Science and Technology, and higher education institutions (HEIs) to address the ongoing projects of developing IP policies for academic institutions, the involvement of HEIs in projects integrating innovations, creations and entrepreneurial endeavors from students into the marketplace. New areas of cooperation were agreed upon including science incubator programs for youth and a joint master’s program in IP.