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

Innovation & Intellectual Property
of the settings studied. And, in most of the studies, the IP policy frameworks, no
matter how faintly acknowledged, intersect with issues crucial to African nations’
socio-economic development, including, but not limited to, science, energy, education,
food, culture and communications. Given the range of important areas that
IP policies and practices impact upon, and the often poor alignment (revealed by
several studies in this book) between existing IP systems and present innovation
realities, three key recommendations to African policy-makers emerge from, and
provide a suitable conclusion to, this book.
Avoid mistakes
The first recommendation to African policy-makers is to avoid policy mistakes.
Having no IP policy may be better than entrenching the wrong IP policy. This
does not mean that policy-makers can ignore IP, but that they should be cautious
and seek to make evidence-based rather than political decisions wherever possible.
We have witnessed, in most of the case studies presented in this book, that
actors innovate and create shared value through collaboration between interconnected
communities (broadly defined). Collectivities in African settings continue
to do what they have done – and done well – for millennia. Certainly, IP policies
properly tailored to local contexts can enhance the benefits of innovation and
creativity. But poorly designed policies can exacerbate problems, requiring risky
and inefficient workarounds for innovation practitioners. Because, in many countries,
IP policies are not yet locked in for the long term, the opportunity remains
to leapfrog past many developed countries that are struggling with the adverse
consequences of ill-conceived IP measures. But policy leapfrogging need not be
a rapid endeavour. Learning from others’ experiences, and then crafting contextappropriate
responses, requires the willingness to collect evidence and consult
broadly. Patience will provide African policy-makers an advantage.
Broaden IP conceptions
The second recommendation to policy-makers is to broaden conceptions of
relevant and valuable IP practices. The studies presented in this book suggest that
patent systems (even were the institutional capacity to exist, and in most cases
it does not) are irrelevant to many of the modes of innovation and creativity
happening in Africa. Copyright seems also to be ineffective in many African settings,
because of its lack of enforceability.
We do not suggest putting an end to the building of capacity to conduct
patent examinations and disseminate patent disclosures, or an end to the raising
of copyright awareness in order to enhance copyright enforcement and
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