Today, Rwanda joins the rest of the world to celebrate the World Intellectual property day. The day is celebrated each year on the 26th of April, a date the WIPO convention came into force in 1970.

This year's intellectual property day focuses on "innovation for a green future.” It is an opportunity to reflect on Rwanda’s green growth drive and the role of innovation and creativity and the associated intellectual property rights in building a green future.

Climate change has been a basis of debates in several national and international fora as well as a basis of policy reviews and formulation, with several countries setting initiatives to promote environmental protection in a bid to combat climate change.

Rwanda is no exception. Efforts have been put in place in a quest to obtain sustainable development through green growth. Initiatives such as the 2008 ban on nonbiodegradable plastic, the establishment of a green innovation fund, and the forest cover initiative, and the different proactive conservation measures have contributed to the Country`s green drive. Rwanda has also set up the Bugesera e-waste recycling plant, which is among the top-notch innovative recycling centers in Africa.

These efforts have not passed unnoticed. Kigali city has been named as one of the cleanest cities in Africa by the UN habitat. At the same time, the Rwanda Green Fund won the United Nations 2018 Momentum for Change Award for its outstanding contribution to addressing climate change. The ‘Green city Kigali project’ recently received a grant of Frw10 billion from the Federal Republic of Germany to construct over 1700 housing units. The project will demonstrate the viability of green cities in Rwanda. All these initiatives demonstrate Rwanda`s commitment to green growth.

The green growth drive, however, faces challenges that will need to be addressed. Rwanda has experienced rapid economic growth in the past decade averaging 7 percent, and a more significant increase is envisaged in the future. The Country has an annual average population growth rate of 2.6 %. This presents a challenge to the environment and sustainable socio-economic development.

In order to foster green growth, care needs to be taken in setting policies and frameworks that underpin this growth rate. This calls for intentional innovation and adequate investment in research and development, to obtain green technologies that can meet the development needs without compromising the environment.

Some of the challenges associated with green growth, especially in developing countries like Rwanda, include inadequate financial resources and expertise to invest in research and development as well as the risk and uncertainty of obtaining a sound and viable green technological solution.

The patent system circumvents these challenges by disclosing already existing technologies to innovators to exploit. The disclosed technologies do not only prevent the investment of limited resources in reinventing the wheel, but also have a knock-on effect. They can be used as a source for research and development.

Despite these benefits, the patent system hasn’t been adequately utilized in Rwanda. There are currently approximately 1500 patent applications from both local and international applicants, which disclose different technologies. About 40% are in the green sector. However, patent searches are still minimal. Other facilities like WIPO-Green that provide a pool of green technologies that can be accessed and used have also not been utilized among the green innovators.

For Rwanda to fully leverage this opportunity, researchers need to use these technologies in the research and development process. Further, a deliberate link between green innovators and potential users needs to be established such that these technologies are commercialized and adequately utilized.

Adequate utilization of the intellectual property for promoting a green future calls for collective effort among different players such as policymakers, private sector, innovators, and public research and development institutions if indeed the growth envisaged is to be obtained.