The Nest is expanding its services to ensure that more innovators and startups in Nigeria get the needed support for the protection of Intellectual Property (IP) rights.
The innovation hub in partnership with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) launched a Technology and Innovation Support Center (TISC) in Yaba, Lagos, where it’s domiciled. The partnership has been described by many stakeholders who graced the event as a move to foster innovation in the country.
Intellectual Property is protected in law by, for example, patents, copyright, and trademarks, which enable people to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create.
With the TISC launch startups, and innovators in Nigeria will have access to locally-based, high-quality technology information and related services, helping them to exploit their innovative potential and to create, protect, and manage their Intellectual Property (IP) rights.
Speaking with TechEconomy, Peter Ogedengbe, Cofounder, The Nest, said they are very much concerned about the protection of Intellectual Property, encouraging innovators to register for patents, copyrights, and trademarks.
At Nest, we are excited about the partnership and recognition we have had from the World Intellectual Property Organization as the center for ensuring that people start registering for these services.
The goal, according to Ogedengbe, is to spread the message to various players in different sectors about how important it is to have ideas patented, trademarks, and copyrights.
“We have been helping startups from inception, we are looking forward to letting them know through our various programs about this protecting and managing their ideas and how it will help them.”
Intellectual Property refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; symbols, names, and images used in commerce.
Without the protection of ideas, businesses and individuals would not reap the full benefits of their inventions and would focus less on research and development.
“The Nest will provide startups with the required support they need in developing and launching their products,” Ayokunle Adetula, Senior Associate at a law firm in Lagos, told TechEconomy.
He said due to the intangible nature of Intellectual Property, businesses or individuals should have them protected and The Nest will always be at their service.
“Before any business starts exploiting you, you must lay the foundation, and the foundation deals with patents, trademarks, copyrights.” By the time you have them, then you can begin to exploit,” he added. Oluwajoba Oloba, Cofounder, The Nest, said the TISC center would help Nigerian startups and entrepreneurs to make use of the best technology tools and resources to scale up their businesses.
“If a startup is developing a solution that will address specific challenges, the startup needs to know if other startups have already developed that solution and whether such product has been registered and patented within the tech ecosystem. These are some of the advantages that people will get if they are registered with TISC in Nigeria,” Oloba said.
The Technology and Innovation Support Center (TISC) would also involve offering other services such as access to online patent and non-patent (scientific and technical) resources and IP-related publications; assistance in searching and retrieving technology information; training in a database search; on-demand searches (novelty, state-of-the-art, and infringement); monitoring technology and competitors; basic information on industrial property laws, management and strategy, and technology commercialization and marketing.
