New centre to promote innovation in technology

The Ministry of Trade and Industry, in partnership with World Intellectual Property Organisation (Wipo) and Japan Patent Office, has launched a Technology & Innovation Support Centre (TISC) at the National Library in Kigali to facilitate innovation in the country.Elangi Botoy Ituku, the Wipo Representative, said at the launch, yesterday, the centre will reduce the knowledge gap, stimulate innovation and economic growth by facilitating access to technology information and strengthening the country’s capacity to effectively exploit this information for meaningful uses.“The development of a country comes from nowhere but from within since in nowhere, letter N is divided into two words: Now and here!” Ituku said.Trade and Industry minister François Kanimba said the centre will become a source of excellence as it will increase technological knowledge to the public. Kanimba assured that the programme will be spread across the country to enable all Rwandans benefit and build upon such ICT tool to develop.“Let people exploit this opportunity to not only be up-to-date with a variety of new worldwide technologies, but also to depart from them to develop,” he said. More than 50 trainees from various sectors are undergoing a three-day workshop at the Ministry of Trade and Industry to initiate them into the new project and know how to localise and use it to solve local problems. The National Library will serve as a central point, but other TISC networks will be established in institutions recognised by Minicom to extend the national capacity in intellectual property rights.Wipo is responsible for protecting intellectual property worldwide and promoting creative intellectual activities.