Chief Executive Officer of the research and innovation firm Heritors Labs Limited, Derrydean Dadzie, has urged African governments to empower state research and innovation promotion institutions to develop intellectual properties that can be transferred to businesses with the requisite entrepreneurial expertise and financial capacity to commercialise.

He added that this should not restrict access for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

He stated that this approach could address the apparent stagnation of viable and scalable innovations and research solutions confined to laboratories, entrench cross-border trade, and broadly strengthen the continent’s contribution to the global innovation ecosystem.

“Fixing cross-border research and innovation collaborations can unlock enormous opportunities for intra-Africa trade, make discussions around innovation commercialisation more fluid, and ultimately impact the socio-economic development of the continent and its people,” he emphasised.

Opening an ARICS Cross Border Webinar Series on the theme “Moving Innovation Beyond Islands: Building Cross-Border Markets that Integrate Africa’s Research and Industrial Ecosystems”, he lamented the widespread disconnect between research hubs, investors and the business community across Africa.

“We’re more powerful if we’re able to collaborate and jointly co-create and solve our problems, including harmonising funds, expertise and resources in a more targeted approach towards the upscaling of African innovations and research outcomes,” he added.

It is estimated that around 90 percent of Africa’s small and medium-sized businesses are disconnected from the research and innovation ecosystem. This means industries with the capacity to commercialise researched solutions into tangible products are not directly linked to such inventions.

Chief Executive Officer of South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Dr Thulani Dlamini, supporting the argument, stated that linking innovation hubs to industry would enable viable businesses, particularly SMEs, to tap into the support and infrastructure of research institutions to improve their access to markets.

However, he noted that the lag in the commercialisation of innovation across borders goes beyond securing intellectual property rights for businesses.

He cited the absorptive capacity of SMEs, the nature of the technology being transferred and the mechanisms through which such transfers could occur as other limiting factors.

“Access to capital remains the major challenge. With the necessary funding, small and medium-sized enterprises can acquire intellectual properties or innovations from research institutions and commercialise them. That is how we can realise economic dividends such as job creation and increased commercialisation of innovation and research outcomes,” he said.

The post-ARICS webinar signalled the need for building systems and innovation policies that facilitate cross-border trade, in line with recommendations from the second edition of the Africa Research and Innovation Commercialisation Summit, held earlier this year in Accra.

Other speakers, including Mr Ian Korongo, who leads Innovation and Commercialisation at the Kenya National Innovation Agency (KeNIA), and Dr George Acheampong, Coordinator for the Innovation and Incubation Hub at the University of Ghana Business School, unanimously called for broader high-level engagements to deepen the cross-border transfer of commercially feasible innovations.

“Policy frameworks exist in almost every country, but implementation has been lagging. This requires sustained collaboration at national and political levels,” Mr Korongo noted.

Another concern, according to Dr Acheampong, relates to the distribution of intellectual property rights in most IP mutual recognition agreements. He highlighted the need for innovation co-creation.

“A laboratory that facilitates co-sharing could significantly advance the commercialisation of research and innovation outcomes across borders,” he added.