The Creative Economy Week 2025 is a week-long programme aimed at harnessing and nurturing the abundant creativity in Nigeria while repositioning the creative industry as a driver of national economic growth.

Hannatu Musa Musawa, minister of Arts, Culture, Tourism & Creative Economy, who delivered a keynote address at the event in Lagos, emphasised the significant potential of United Kingdom-Nigeria partnerships in enhancing the creative economy, and emphasised that the collaboration will accelerate capacity building and skills exchange to cultivate a thriving creative industry in Nigeria.

“The creative industry in the United Kingdom is very developed. We believe we can also have a thriving creative industry. The government has stepped in to facilitate this essential handshake. With collaboration with the United Kingdom, Nigeria’s creative sector will further thrive. And beyond that, there are a lot of skills.”

In her remarks, the minister noted that raw talent and creativity are abundant in Nigeria, while noting that the collaboration will foster mutual benefits through training, festivals, and exchanges.

The minister concluded, “With the right training and support, Nigeria’s creative sector can not only thrive but also contribute significantly to job creation and economic development.”

Creative Economy Week Nigeria 2025 spanned across five Nigerian cities: Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano, and Enugu, and it will culminate in a landmark London showcase on 11 October. The initiative is designed to identify, nurture talents and creativity in Nigeria. It brought together artists, creative entrepreneurs, cultural hubs, industry leaders, policymakers, investors, and international partners.

The event series showcases the power of creativity and culture as catalysts for inclusive economic growth, youth empowerment, and global connection while spotlighting diaspora voices, strengthening international collaboration, and forging new opportunities for global creative exchange.

During the Week, engaging sessions took place in Lagos. These included discussions on the Women in Film Conference, the Africa Film Finance Forum (AFFF), and presentations focusing on unlocking Nigeria’s Creative Tech and Digital Storytelling Frontiers. Additionally, topics such as the expanding role of music in job creation and market reach were explored, alongside a fireside chat addressing crucial steps for enhancing Nigeria’s creative industry.

In addition, masterclass sessions were conducted on various subjects including, the role of Intellectual Property (IP) in the film industry, SME creative entrepreneurship, and practice management for the film sector.

These discussions are pivotal in promoting professionalism and growth within the industry, further driving socio-economic growth and creating job opportunities.

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With a relatively stable macroeconomic environment, sustained investor confidence, and a fast-expanding services sector, Kenya has emerged as one of the fastest-growing economies in Africa and the largest in the East African region by way of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

To maintain its lead, the Kenyan government is looking to technology and innovation as a strategic driver of new business development, job creation, and socio-economic growth.

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Considered one of Africa’s ‘Big Four’ innovation ecosystems, Kenya has made good progress in this regard, registering 250% growth year-on-year between 2020 – 2021 in terms of startup funding raised.

However, to maximise the impact potential of startups and innovative entrepreneurs, Kenya requires a coherent and thriving Intellectual Property (IP) regime – which it currently lacks.

As a working definition, IP refers to the set of legal rights that protect creative and innovative works.

In Kenya, IP rights are protected by the Kenyan Industrial Property Act (KIPA), which establishes the Kenyan Industrial Property Institute (KIPI) as the national agency responsible for the registration, administration and enforcement of IP.

In doing so, KIPA and KIPI aim to support innovation and creativity by allowing creators and owners to control how their works are used and to receive financial rewards for their creations.

At a national level, IP has come a long way in the political arena, with the 2010 Constitution of Kenya granting it constitutional status and making it on-par with policies around the world.

Yet, while the Kenyan Intellectual Property regime may meet international standards, it remains a complex and controversial issue in Kenya, which – according to business owners at the coalface of Kenyan innovation – is leading to a net loss in innovation.

This was revealed during a series of roundtable discussions hosted in partnership between the Association of Countrywide Innovation Hubs (ACIH) and Global Alliance Africa, a project of Innovate UK KTN that drives knowledge transfer and collaboration that foster long-lasting, strategic partnerships between Kenya and the UK.

Among the most pressing issues in Kenyan IP is the lack of awareness: Many people in Kenya, including small business owners, entrepreneurs and creators may not be aware of their rights or how to protect them under current IP laws. For those that are aware, the costs of registering and protecting IP rights in Kenya is a barrier for many small businesses and entrepreneurs, with many lacking the resources needed to invest in the necessary legal fees and procedures.

For those innovators with the knowledge and resources to protect their IP, another challenge comes in the form of KIPI itself – the agency responsible for administering and enforcing IP rights in Kenya – which has limited resources and is unable to effectively address all IP-related issues.

Thus, offenders often face little to no consequence for contravening Intellectual Property laws, which further discourages innovation and investment into IP-based industries.

To overcome these challenges, there are several next steps that Kenyan stakeholders should consider:

First, we need to encourage and make it easier for innovators to protect their work through trademarks, patents and copyrights.

This begins with connecting idea holders to the various organisations in Kenya that offer funding, training, and networking support, as well as legal assistance. Doing so takes us a step towards ensuring that their creative works are recognised and valued, and that they can benefit from their innovations.

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Secondly, we need to help innovators to explore licensing and partnership opportunities, whereby Kenyan innovators can collaborate with other companies or organisations to develop and commercialise their products and services, and in doing so, help to bring their ideas to market.

Collaborating with other innovators, researchers, and industry experts can also help to create a supportive ecosystem for innovation and can include sharing knowledge, resources, and expertise and working together on joint projects or initiatives.

Lastly, we need to catalyse engagement between innovators, stakeholders and policymakers in Kenyan Intellectual Property .

In doing so, the ecosystem will have a channel in which to advocate for reforms and improvements to the IP legal framework that can help to support innovation and creativity.

It is only by collaborating with others, that we can begin to effectively address IP-related challenges in Kenya and align our efforts to increase awareness and education, strengthen enforcement and legal frameworks, and provide more resources and support to those seeking to protect their rights.

 The Global Alliance Africa project is a six-year project funded by UK Aid through Innovate UK (GCRF) and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

The post It’s Time to Demystify Intellectual Property in Kenyan Innovation appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

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.

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