Geographical Indication (GI) options for Ethiopian Coffee and Ghanaian Cocoa

Innovation, Intellectual Property and Development Narratives in Africa
Proponents of the value of open or inclusive development paradigms tend
to gravitate towards calls for increasing democratic engagement, and they tend
to emphasise the distributive implications of the benefits that accrue, from such
modes of development, to the most marginalised segments of society. It can even
be argued that openness breeds more openness, so that it is a game-changing force
for unlocking innovation and creativity. That said, the potential downsides of
openness should not be overlooked, including, in the realm of IP protection, the
risk of misappropriation and, perhaps, challenges faced in seeking to find financial
incentives for innovative and creative activity. The potential advantages and
disadvantages make it necessary to consider appropriate degrees of openness that
balance benefits with costs. Such balancing tends to be a constantly dynamic process,
which further complicates a possible definition of openness in the context of
developmental processes. Another challenge in arriving at a clear understanding
of open development and related openness-focused concepts is the paradox that
one person’s freedom often requires another’s constraint. Despite these conceptual
and definitional challenges – and also to a great extent because of them –
this book seeks to help build a better understanding of what the concept of open
development might look like in one particular set of contexts: African contexts
involving elements of IP, innovation and creativity.
Collaborative innovation and creativity
The term “innovation” has in recent years become a buzz word among government
policy-makers, the private sector, civil society and academics. However, its meaning
is not self-explanatory. The rich literature on innovation and its connections
to entrepreneurship and formal and informal economic systems is canvassed in
the De Beer et al. Chapter 2 of this book. In this introductory chapter, it will
thus suffice to foreshadow the deeper analysis in Chapter 2 by providing an initial
definition of innovation, making a rough distinction between the twin notions of
innovation and creativity, and drawing some generalised connections among IP,
innovation, creativity and openness.
A useful definition of innovation is contained in a handbook known as the
Oslo Manual, a joint publication of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) and Eurostat (OECD and Eurostat, 2005). The Manual,
now in its 3rd edition, provides guidelines for researchers and statisticians collecting
and interpreting data regarding indicators of technological innovation in
countries around the world. According to the Manual, an innovation can take
the form of a new technological product (or service offering), a new production
process, a new marketing method or a new organisational practice. Significantly
improved products/services, processes, methods and practices also qualify as
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