World Intellectual Property Day 2022: Innovators from Syria, Ghana and China Top Youth Video Contest

Geneva, April 26, 2022
PR/2022/889

Young people from Syria, Ghana and China won the top three spots in the youth video competition for this year’s World Intellectual Property Day, which carries the theme “IP and Youth Innovating for a Better Future.”

Twenty-five year old Hekma Jabouli from Syria won the first prize with her short film showing a home-made smart device designed to help her sister regain mobility after shrapnel injury to her spinal cord.

In an online vote, Ms. Jabouli’s video was selected best submission among an original pool of nearly 150 entries from dozens of countries.

Twenty-seven year old John Wobil from Ghana took second place for his video about a new rice thresher, while digital designers Li Binglu and Cai Quinge, Chinese nationals living in Japan, came third with their story about creating new pictograms or emojis to forge connections among remote workers.

WIPO Director General Daren Tang said that about half the world’s population is under the age of 30 and is the fastest-growing demographic in many parts of the world – and that younger people are already working on solutions to shared issues, supported by intellectual property (IP) rights like trademarks, patents, designs, copyright and others that help people earn a living from their work.

This year, on World Intellectual Property Day, WIPO is celebrating the vision and dynamism of young innovators and creators everywhere.

At a time when humanity needs to come together to address a range of urgent challenges - from overcoming the pandemic, to combatting climate change - we must help our youths to realize their innovation potential.

WIPO is working to build a more inclusive IP ecosystem by expanding access to IP for groups who have been historically under-represented, including women, smaller enterprises and younger people, which is why we selected this year's theme. A better future begins with young people and WIPO intends to ensure that IP is there to help them grow.

WIPO Director General Daren Tang

View the three winning videos:

The three winning videos were to be screened at an event at WIPO headquarters on April 26 commemorating World IP Day. The event, entitled “Innovating for Better Health: Supporting Young Innovators through IP,” will bring together young innovators from different regions and will explore the challenges they face and how innovation ecosystems need to evolve to enable them to thrive.

For the competition, entrants were requested to submit a short video clip on the theme of “We are young and innovative. Let’s build a better future with IP!” The contest attracted 142 entries from 63 countries, with a group of judges creating a shortlist of 20 videos in line with a set of pre-established criteria.

The shortlisted entries were the subject of an online public vote from April 12 to 22, 2022, in which 36,819 votes were cast.

About World IP Day

In 2000, WIPO's member states designated April 26 – the day on which the WIPO Convention came into force in 1970 – as World Intellectual Property Day with the aim of increasing general understanding of intellectual property (IP). Since then, World IP Day has offered a unique opportunity each year to join with others around the globe to consider how IP contributes to the flourishing of music and the arts and to driving the technological innovation that helps shape our world.