Central America pushes focus on IP quality, commercialization and financing

By Mayora IP

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, hosted the VII Ministerial Meeting of the Central American Sub-Region on “Enhancing Solutions: IP as a Tool for Innovation and Sub-regional Economic Recovery."

The meeting highlighted the need to increase regional efforts to support the promotion of innovation and creativity among Central American people through training and other on the ground projects designed to boost national economies.

Among the participants was the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Director General Daren Tang, who said that WIPO is prepared to step up its efforts to support entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs and indigenous communities to use IP strategically.

“In a world where innovation is becoming more open, more global and faster, IP can no longer just remain a legal right but it must become a catalyst, for jobs, for investments, to support businesses and to help develop economies and societies,” Tang said, adding “IP must not be just focused on IP registration and enforcement but also on IP commercialization and even IP financing – which is how we use IP as an asset class.”

Lately, Central America has observed a strong spirit of cooperation among the countries in the field of IP, the openness of the region and the ability to be agile, nimble and vibrant. During the VII Ministerial Meeting, ministers and other senior officials discussed take stock of bilateral relations and opportunities for future collaboration, urging to promote debate IP as part of a natural driving force of the economy that increasingly helps to attract investments and adds quality to domestic products positioning in global markets.

Specifically in Guatemala, in recent years the country is looking to work closer with the WIPO and complying with international standards by strengthening prosecution of crimes against intellectual property and implementing projects with international organizations to provide better knowledge and assistance on the matter.