Inventors Urged to Register Creations with Jamaica Intellectual Property Office

Minister of Industry, Technology, Energy and Commerce, Phillip Paulwell, is encouraging inventors to register creations being submitted for the Minister’s Innovations in Science and Technology Awards with the Jamaica Intellectual Property Office.
The Minister, who was speaking at the launch of the second Minister’s Innovations in Science and Technology Awards 2007 yesterday (Aug.8) at his Trafalgar Road offices in Kingston, noted that there is an “absence of registered patents for the entries submitted in 2005.”
“The patent, which protects any new and useful idea, gives the inventor a temporary shelter from the forces of market competition. Patents can be used to stimulate economic development,” he pointed out.
According to the Minister Paulwell, patent information facilitates technology transfer and foreign direct investment, encourages research and development at universities and research centres, and is a catalyst for new technologies and businesses.
“The patent system also stimulates economic development by promoting business activity. Businesses from multinationals to small and medium-sized enterprises can benefit from accumulating Intellectual Property (IP) assets and engaging in IP licensing transactions,” Mr. Paulwell explained.
“It is our conviction that handled properly, patents are efficient drivers of national innovation, research and development, product creation and business transactions that have beneficial macro and micro-economics effects,” he added.
Meanwhile, Mr. Paulwell noted that the awards programme is designed to encourage greater involvement by Jamaicans “in the quest for scientific solutions to existing problems and create new and exciting opportunities for the country.”
He added that government has always held the view that science and technology is critical for national development and it is “our most effective response to the challenges of the global environment.”
“In reality, science and technology seek to address optimization and efficiency in all we do, while ensuring sustainable development. Therefore, it is at the centre of the dramatic transformation in medicine and health care, agriculture commerce and industry and communication,” he said.
He noted that the implementation of the Minister’s National Awards Programme is to popularise science and technology through the promotion of creativity and to recognise the entrepreneurial benefits from inventions.
The major goals of the innovation awards are to sensitise, stimulate and encourage stakeholders to use science and technology in their endeavours, ultimately creating an enabling environment for innovation and creativity.
Individuals, schools, community groups, small and medium sized enterprises using some form of innovative technique or procedure in conducting operations in any of 10 categories at a national level, are eligible for entry.
The categories are agriculture and food science, education, energy, engineering, entertainment products, environmental sustainability, health and safety, information and communication technology and electronics, manufacturing and the public sector.
Winners in the categories will be selected by a panel of judges drawn from business community and academia, and the awards will be presented at the National Science and Technology Awards banquet in November.
Winners will receive $150,000 each, and one super award valued at $400,000 will also be presented. Application forms are available at all parish libraries, Social Development Commission Parish offices and from the awards secretariat located at the Scientific Research Council. Electronic copies can also be downloaded at www.src-jamaica.org.
Completed application forms along with a passport size photograph should be submitted by October 12.