The second Conference of Heads of National Intellectual Property Bodies of the Member States of the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), known as HIPOC, opened this Thursday, June 4, 2026, in Abidjan. This high-level regional meeting, held over two days, brings together the heads of national intellectual property bodies from the 17 OAPI member states, as well as representatives of governments, the diplomatic corps, and development partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Presiding over the opening ceremony on behalf of the Minister of Trade, Industry, and Handicrafts, Souleymane Diarrassouba, who was unable to attend, the Minister of Culture and Francophonie, Fran\u00e7ois Amichia Remarck, emphasized the strategic role of intellectual property in the economic transformation of African states. \u201cIntellectual property is the fuel of innovation, which itself drives industrialization and the development of our resources,\u201d he declared, reaffirming C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire\u2019s commitment to building an ecosystem conducive to innovation, entrepreneurship, and competitiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For his part, the Director General of OAPI, Denis Bohoussou, indicated that this conference provides a valuable forum for exchanges between member states and WIPO on major developments in intellectual property worldwide. Reflecting on the achievements of the first edition held in Yaound\u00e9 in 2024, he highlighted the progress made in developing national intellectual property policies and promoting geographical indications. \u201cThis meeting must be the starting point for a new regional dynamic in support of youth entrepreneurship, in an increasingly digital environment,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking in turn, the Director General of WIPO, Daren Tang, emphasized the growing importance of intellectual property in the global economy. According to him, investments in intangible assets\u2014patents, trademarks, data, software, and know-how\u2014now exceed those devoted to tangible assets. \u201cIntellectual property can no longer be reserved solely for experts and technicians. It must become a catalyst enabling innovators to develop their ideas on a large scale,\u201d he asserted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The WIPO official also stressed the opportunities offered to African youth in a context marked by the continent\u2019s digital transformation and economic integration. He called on states to make intellectual property a genuine driver of wealth creation, innovation financing, and business development, particularly for businesses led by young people and women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under the theme \u201cIntellectual Property and Youth Entrepreneurship: How to Build an Innovative and Inclusive Ecosystem,\u201d the HIPOC 2026 conference aims to formulate concrete recommendations to strengthen public policies, support innovation, and foster an environment conducive to business creation and growth within the OAPI region. The conference’s conclusions should contribute to making intellectual property a major driver of economic growth, competitiveness, and sustainable development for member states.<\/p>\n\n\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The second Conference of Heads of National Intellectual Property Bodies of the Member States of the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), known as HIPOC, opened this Thursday, June 4, 2026, in Abidjan. This high-level regional meeting, held over two days, brings together the heads of national intellectual property bodies from the 17 OAPI member states, as well as representatives of governments, the diplomatic corps, and development partners. Presiding over the opening ceremony on behalf of the Minister of Trade, Industry, and Handicrafts, Souleymane Diarrassouba, who was unable to attend, the Minister of Culture and Francophonie, Fran\u00e7ois Amichia Remarck, emphasized the strategic role of intellectual property in the economic transformation of African states. \u201cIntellectual property is the fuel of innovation, which itself drives industrialization and the development of our resources,\u201d he declared, reaffirming C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire\u2019s commitment to building an ecosystem conducive to innovation, entrepreneurship, and competitiveness. For his part, the Director General of OAPI, Denis Bohoussou, indicated that this conference provides a valuable forum for exchanges between member states and WIPO on major developments in intellectual property worldwide. Reflecting on the achievements of the first edition held in Yaound\u00e9 in 2024, he highlighted the progress made in developing national intellectual property policies and promoting geographical indications. \u201cThis meeting must be the starting point for a new regional dynamic in support of youth entrepreneurship, in an increasingly digital environment,\u201d he stated. Speaking in turn, the Director General of WIPO, Daren Tang, emphasized the growing importance of intellectual property in the global economy. According to him, investments in intangible assets\u2014patents, trademarks, data, software, and know-how\u2014now exceed those devoted to tangible assets. \u201cIntellectual property can no longer be reserved solely for experts and technicians. It must become a catalyst enabling innovators to develop their ideas on a large scale,\u201d he asserted. The WIPO official also stressed the opportunities offered to African youth in a context marked by the continent\u2019s digital transformation and economic integration. He called on states to make intellectual property a genuine driver of wealth creation, innovation financing, and business development, particularly for businesses led by young people and women. Under the theme \u201cIntellectual Property and Youth Entrepreneurship: How to Build an Innovative and Inclusive Ecosystem,\u201d the HIPOC 2026 conference aims to formulate concrete recommendations to strengthen public policies, support innovation, and foster an environment conducive to business creation and growth within the OAPI region. The conference’s conclusions should contribute to making intellectual property a major driver of economic growth, competitiveness, and sustainable development for member states.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":10610,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[154],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gucecotedivoire.ci\/pwic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gucecotedivoire.ci\/pwic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gucecotedivoire.ci\/pwic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gucecotedivoire.ci\/pwic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gucecotedivoire.ci\/pwic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10612"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.gucecotedivoire.ci\/pwic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11102,"href":"https:\/\/www.gucecotedivoire.ci\/pwic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10612\/revisions\/11102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gucecotedivoire.ci\/pwic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gucecotedivoire.ci\/pwic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gucecotedivoire.ci\/pwic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gucecotedivoire.ci\/pwic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}