https://en.sputniknews.africa/20260618/africas-intellectual-property-revolution-set-to-reclaim-lost-billions-1086736219.html
Africa's Intellectual Property Revolution Set to Reclaim Lost Billions
Africa's Intellectual Property Revolution Set to Reclaim Lost Billions
Sputnik Africa
Across Africa, officials are pushing reforms to strengthen IP systems and boost monetization or commercialization of innovation, aiming to move economies... 18.06.2026, Sputnik Africa
2026-06-18T14:05+0200
2026-06-18T14:05+0200
2026-06-18T14:05+0200
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Africa's Intellectual Property Revolution Set to Reclaim Lost Billions
Sputnik Africa
Across Africa, officials are pushing reforms to strengthen IP systems and boost monetization or commercialization of innovation, aiming to move economies beyond raw material exports and into higher-value knowledge-based industries.
Efforts across the continent are accelerating to integrate intellectual property into national development strategies, with coordination strengthened through frameworks such as the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) and trade-related mechanisms under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) aimed at improving cross-border protection and commercialization of innovation. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) estimates that Africa accounts for under 2 percent of global patent filings, highlighting a persistent gap between inventive activity and formal IP registration. African Currents spoke with Sand Mba Kalu, executive director of the Africa International Trade & Commerce Research in Nigeria, a leading voice on intellectual property reform, about the infrastructure gaps and policy changes needed to strengthen Africa’s creative industries. He outlined how music, film, gaming, and traditional knowledge could become globally competitive intellectual property exports through stronger IP protection systems, deeper regional cooperation under the AfCFTA IP Protocol, and increased investment in digital infrastructure and enforcement capacity.Catch the full discussion on the African Currents podcast, presented by Sputnik Africa.Listen to this episode on our website or Telegram.► You can also stream the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Deezer, Pocket Casts, Afripods, Podcast Addict.► Subscribe to and explore all the episodes of African Currents.
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Africa's Intellectual Property Revolution Set to Reclaim Lost Billions
Across Africa, officials are pushing reforms to strengthen IP systems and boost monetization or commercialization of innovation, aiming to move economies beyond raw material exports and into higher-value knowledge-based industries.
Efforts across the continent are accelerating to integrate intellectual property into national development strategies, with coordination strengthened through frameworks such as the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) and trade-related mechanisms under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) aimed at improving cross-border protection and commercialization of innovation. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) estimates that Africa accounts for under 2 percent of global patent filings, highlighting a persistent gap between inventive activity and formal IP registration.
African Currents spoke with Sand Mba Kalu, executive director of the Africa International Trade & Commerce Research in Nigeria, a leading voice on intellectual property reform, about the infrastructure gaps and policy changes needed to strengthen Africa’s creative industries. He outlined how music, film, gaming, and traditional knowledge could become globally competitive intellectual property exports through stronger IP protection systems, deeper regional cooperation under the AfCFTA IP Protocol, and increased investment in digital infrastructure and enforcement capacity.
"For Africa to turn international property into an economic powerhouse means that we have to move as a continent from exporting raw material, informal creativity, and unprotected innovation to becoming that continent that owns, protects, monetizes, and exports its ideas and its brand and its technology, our cultural assets; that is what it means [...]. We understand that the African film industry is worth five billion [in US dollars], according to UNESCO. But how many are still staying in Africa? That is the question. There's a leakage. The value is still being leaked [...], so this structural problem is also visible in our research to market pipeline [...]. The sustainability of international trade is on the back of IP. If you don't have a strong IP system backing your products, it will be freeloaders that will benefit from it, and that's what Africa is doing [...]. IP should have been the enabler and protector of those ideas. The numbers are encouraging, but they're also revealing; that is the truth," Mba Kalu said.
Catch the full discussion on the African Currents podcast, presented by Sputnik Africa.
Listen to this episode on our website or
Telegram.►
Subscribe to and explore all the episodes of African Currents.
