WIPO Technology and Innovation Support Center in Honduras

By Bufete Mejía & Asociados

The Property Institute (IP), through the General Directorate of Intellectual Property of Honduras, inaugurated the Center for Technology and Innovation Support, CATI-Zamorano, at the Zamorano Pan-American Agricultural School, a private, coeducational university located in the valley of the Yeguare river.

The Technology and Innovation Support Center (TISC) program, run by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), is designed to give innovators easy access to locally based, high quality technology information and related services.

Since January 2014, the project has been fully mainstreamed within the regular activities of WIPO and forms part of the program on Services for Access to Information and Knowledge.

In particular, the project aims to “facilitate the national offices of developing countries, especially LDCs, as well as their regional and subregional intellectual property organizations to access specialized databases”.

WIPO works with the governments of member states to support the establishment and effective operation of TISCs.
Institutions interested in hosting TISCs contact their respective national or regional industrial property office. Possible TISC host institutions include:

-National and Regional Patent Offices
-Universities and Academic Institutions
-Science and Research Centers
-Local and Regional Technoparks
-Chambers of Commerce
-Other public institutions of similar type

Among the services provided by WIPO to TISCs to support their regular operations are the following:

-Experience sharing platforms. WIPO offers a number of resources to support the exchange and dissemination of experiences and best practices among TISCs nationally and internationally, including online knowledge management platforms and awareness-raising and training opportunities. These resources are supported by the development of standards such as skill certification schemes.

-Patent Landscape Reports. These Reports provide a comprehensive overview of a given field of technology and may inform policy discussions, strategic research planning, or technology transfer.

-WIPO’s Patent Information Service for Developing Countries (WPIS). For more complex searches, WIPO coordinates with donor offices to obtain reports on the state of the art for a specific technology.