By Amaechi Agbo, Agbani

The profile of Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUT, has continued to grow higher globally recently when the university participated in the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Colloquium for Intellectual Property (IP) Teachers in South Africa .

The 2024 WIPO-WTO Colloquium held between 5th and 8th August, had two Nigeria Universities, ESUT and Gombe State University representing Nigeria at the research-based event held at University of Cape Town.

ESUT was represented at the global scholar event by Associate Professor Joelle Nwabueze, Head of Business Law Department in the university.

Association Prof Nwabueze, a scholar of no mean repute, distinguished her pedigree at the four-day event as she received two awards on intellectual property and technology transfer law.

Speaking with ESUT Monitor on the essence of the Colloquium, Associate Professor Nwabueze said the it raises ESUT’s profile high, helps in networking as well as cross-fertilization of learning.

“Attending the 2024 WIPO-WTO Colloquium for African intellectual property law teachers, and subsequently the 2024 IP Scholars Summit in South Africa was a tremendous God-given academic and professional opportunity.

“Firstly, my participation enhanced my capacity as Law Professor in the training of junior colleagues, experts in the same field; secondly it added value to my skills in the teaching of the law of Intellectual Property at ESUT Law Faculty in particular, and worldwide generally.

“Finally, it enabled technical cooperation between ESUT Law Faculty and international institutions and national research institutions in South Africa for training of the trainers, capacity building, and creation of a research chair in a nearer future,” she told ESUT monitor in an interview.

The Conference included plenary and parallel! sessions, alongside keynotes and panel discussions with senior scholars and officials from international organizations.

The WIPO-WTO Colloquium provides IP academics from Africa a platform to enhance their understanding of international developments in IP law and policy, share comprehensive updates on the status of WIPO and WTO agreements; foster insights on current activities in both organizations relevant to the Afncan region: map existing IP teaching and scholarship in the region; and facilitate debate and collaboration among the academic community in Africa.

The Conference offers researchers from Africa the unique opportunity to present their works-in-progress on the latest topics in the field of IP, network, exchange ideas, and gain constructive feedback from peers.

Background

Since 2004, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) have jointly organized annual two-week colloquiums for teachers of intellectual property (IP) from developing countries and economies in transition.

The aim is to help the teachers become more aware of the Geneva institutions, negotiations and other activities dealing with IP law and policy, and to strengthen their countries’ independent research, policy analysis and teaching in IP law.

Building on the success of the annual colloquium, WIPO and the WTO have held since 2017, an annual regionally focused colloquium, which aims to take a closer look at specific regional trends and strengthen academic networks.