Is The Triple Helix Approach to Commercialization of IP the Panacea For Africa?

Abstract

Commercialization of IP depends on creations and inventions. These two invariably result from research and development (R & D). Africa spends less than 1% of her GDP on R & D activities. Additionally, there is very little coordination between various agencies dealing with IP in African countries. This is compounded by other factors such as low levels of IP awareness, an archaic academic culture at universities, lack of coordination in the use of research facilities, and lack of entrepreneurial skills amongst academics. Despite legislation to protect indigenous knowledge, very little comes out of it. Attempts by Ghana to commercialize her folklore has not borne fruits. The numerous institutions touching on R & D and IP in Morocco have not placed that country ahead of the others in matters of IP. South Africa, which has the highest expenditure on R & D at 0.8% if GDP does not produce as many patents as a single institution in USA. Consequently, the University of California registers more patents per year than the continent of Africa. The approach used by most institutions in Africa is one in which an institution attempts to interest industry. The diverse cultures operating between the two institutions make cooperation rather difficult. Research institutions come up with inventions that the industry does not need, or research institutions are not able to align their research agenda with the needs of industry. Neither is able to meet the needs of the other. The ‘triple helix’ approach proposes a model in which government is the main driver bringing research institutions and industry together. This model has been used with a lot of success in Victoria, Australia. This paper seeks to interrogate how the ‘triple helix’ model can be adapted to answer the question of improved commercialization of IP in Africa.