On February 26 and 27, 2026, Yaoundé hosted the Regional Meeting on the Development of a Regional Network of Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISCs). The meeting was jointly organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) with the support of the Japanese government through the Japan Trust Fund, which already supports numerous initiatives for training, digitization, and the dissemination of scientific and technical information in the region.
A major event for stakeholders in innovation, entrepreneurship, and research within the OAPI region
CATIs are strategic structures designed to support inventors, researchers, start-ups and entrepreneurs in the search for technical information, the valorization of innovations, and to promote opportunities for technology transfer.
This high-level meeting aimed to define a clear and operational roadmap to ensure:
- Structured networking of national CATIs from the 17 OAPI member states;
- Their operation and the coordination at regional level of their activities to support innovation;
- Capacity building for the actors involved;
- The pooling of documentary and technological resources and;
- Improving access to scientific and technical information contained in patent documents through databases.
🤝 Enhanced collaboration
The opening ceremony was marked by speeches from:
- Mr. Ituku Elangi Botoy, Administrator in charge of information on industrial property matters at WIPO;
- Mr. Kenya Uehara , Advisor and Representative of the Ambassador of Japan to Cameroon
- Mr. Guy-Francis BOUSSAFOU , representative of the Director General of OAPI.
Through this activity, the three partners reaffirmed their shared commitment to developing a high-performing intellectual property ecosystem in Africa
📊 A fruitful sharing of experiences with CDPI focal points
A key moment in the work was an in-depth benchmarking session bringing together the focal points of the Intellectual Property Documentation Centres (CDPI) of the Member States.
This session enabled:
- To draw up a realistic assessment of national experiences that have highlighted immense potential within countries;
- To measure and promote initiatives already undertaken and;
- To identify specific strengths, opportunities, challenges and needs in order to prepare a collaborative strategy.
The discussions demonstrated the richness and diversity of national approaches, and above all, the collective will to progress together towards a harmonized CATI model.
A unanimous message emerged from it
Access to technical information is essential to accelerate technological progress and industrial development in our countries. It is important to emphasize patent engineering training to ensure that patent offices have qualified personnel capable of reading and interpreting the information contained in patent documents.
🚀 Towards the creation of a regional CATI
In light of the quality of the work and technical discussions, the meeting led to the formulation of several key recommendations, including:
- The establishment of a regional coordination framework for CATI;
- Harmonisation of procedures and tools for disseminating patent information;
- Capacity building for focal points;
- A gradual interconnection of documentary databases;
- The creation of a regional CATI, the hub of the network, responsible for ensuring the coherence, training and technical coordination of national CATIs.
This future regional CATI will be a key lever for supporting innovation, strengthening business competitiveness, and facilitating access to relevant technological information.
🌍 A shared commitment to the future of research and innovation in Africa. This meeting marks an important step towards building a more structured, integrated, collaborative, and user-friendly intellectual property ecosystem for African researchers and innovators.
