The Open AIR research and training project on the role of IP in open development is inviting preliminary proposals for research case studies in the area of IP, open innovation and collaborative creativity in Africa.
Open AIR’s central aim is to investigate how intellectual property regimes can be harnessed in Africa to facilitate innovation through collaboration and through making processes more participatory, making knowledge more accessible, and making benefits shared more widely. The project is a three-year initiative based at the UCT IP Law and Policy Research Unit, with implementation support from the University of Ottawa Centre for Law, Technology and Society. Supported by Canada’s IDRC and Germany’s BMZ, Open AIR will invest in pan-African research, networking, capacity-building and policy engagement. Open AIR seeks to build on the success of the earlier African Copyright and Access to Knowledge (ACA2K) project, which was based at the Wits University LINK Centre.
Open AIR’s case studies are required to fit within one of the six project themes:
- Copyrights: Empowering Collaborators in Creative Industries
- Patents: Open Innovation for Cleaner Energy Technologies
- Trademarks: Collective Agricultural Branding Strategies
- Cross-Cutting Theme: Implementing the WIPO Development Agenda
- Cross-Cutting Theme: The Traditional Knowledge Commons
- Cross-Cutting Theme: Sharing the Benefits of Publicly Funded Research
The deadline for proposals is 1 April 2011.
Case studies selected for the project will be carried out between July 2011 and April 2012, with draft reports presented at a mid-project workshop in early 2012.
Open AIR Call for Case Studies 
For more information contact Dr. Tobias Schonwetter at:
