Botswana Innovation Hub Sets Up A Technology Transfer Office

In the emerging knowledge economy, a country’s ability to build and mobilise knowledge capital is fostered in part by the legal recognition and protection of the exclusive rights of creations of the mind. The World Bank defines the body of law where governments award exclusive economic rights to artists and inventors in their creations, in order to stimulate technically and socially valuable and innovative contributions to society as Intellectual Property (IP). Intellectual property covers creations of the mind such as inventions, discoveries, literary and artistic works, designs and symbols, names and images used in commerce to encourage the development of creative and artistic endeavours.

The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) which is an agency of the United Nations states that intellectual property rights are like any other property right. They allow creators, or owners, of patents, trademarks or copyrighted works to benefit from their own work or investment in a creation. These rights are outlined in Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which provides for the right to benefit from the protection of moral and material interests resulting from authorship of scientific, literary or artistic productions.

In its recognition of IP, WIPO states that, “the progress and well-being of humanity rests on its capacity to create and invent new works in the areas of technology and culture and that the legal protection of new creations encourages the commitment of additional resources for further innovation while the promotion and protection of intellectual property spurs economic growth, creates new jobs and industries and enhances the quality and enjoyment of life.” 

It is estimated that up to 75% of the value of companies is based on their intellectual property and that, this value can rise up to 100% for small startup companies. The Economist states that intellectual property rights are not only essential for business growth as they help to protect investors and their ideas or business concepts but that they also enhance countries ease of doing business index. The World Bank index measures a country’s regulatory environment to determine if it is conducive to the starting and operation of companies. Higher rankings indicate better, usually simpler, regulations for businesses and stronger protection of property rights.

Following years of impressive economic performance, Botswana is in the throes of diversifying its economy away from diamond mining to a knowledge-based one and Botswana Innovation Hub is one of the major strategic initiatives for diversifying the national economy. In keeping with international best practice, the country has adopted a framework law on patents, copyright and trademarks which enables people to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create. IP laws aim to foster an environment in which creativity and innovation flourish and working within these laws, Botswana Innovation Hub is building a conducive national innovation ecosystem through a private-public partnership initiative that involves research and development with academic institutions and the public and private sector.

Botswana Innovation Hub has partnered with the Southern Africa Innovation Support (SAiS) programme and the University of Botswana and University of Namibia to established a National Technology Transfer Office (TTO). 

The Technology Transfer Office opened its doors earlier this month following the appointment of the Technology Transfer Officer, Samuel Kopano Gaborone who brings along extensive experience and a wealth of knowledge in the commercialization of technological ideas, products and services. Operating from the First Steps Venture Centre (FSVC) at the River Walk Annex, the office exists to assist Innovators and Inventors in the commercialisation of their technological ideas, products and services. This entails a thorough break-down and interrogation of such in-coming inventions for possible IP protection, assisting with drafting of any IP claims made, identification of existing manufacturing partners, or in their absence, facilitation of creation of Spin-off companies to up-take the research results, assistance with Commercialisation Licensing encompassing Non-Disclosure and benefit sharing clauses, stake-holder management and general dissemination of information on Intellectual Property and Tech Transfer.

Gaborone says, “It is early days in the establishment of the TTO but we envisage that, in the long term, the office will be a National Office servicing the broader research community in Botswana.” He encourages innovators, inventors and technology entrepreneurs to, “come and join us in improving Botswana’s industrial and commercial competitiveness, creating employment, serving society and enhancing the quality of our citizen’s life through commercialisation of scientific, engineering and Indigenous Knowledge-based innovations.” Gaborone says an efficient and equitable intellectual property system can help the country realize its intellectual property’s potential as a catalyst for economic development and social and cultural well-being.

 

Polishing Botswana’s True Diamonds to Shine on the Global Stage

Botswana’s investment in the skills and talents of its people paid off in a spectacular manner when the nation celebrated magnificent sporting feats this past week. Our athlete’s sterling performance at the Africa Youth games, Nijel Amos winning the 800 meter Prefontaine Classic and a resurgent national football team, The Zebra’s scrapping through a 1 - 0 victory over Burundi to proceed to the second round of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers provided a huge boost to national pride and confidence to take on the world. Botswana Innovation Hub takes this opportunity to congratulate our sporting heroes for doing us proud.

 

Botswana’s recent impressive sporting record mirrors its remarkable economic record that has hitherto been built on a foundation of diamond mining. However the diminishing sparkle and appeal of the gem stones has brought a sharp focus on the country’s foremost asset and ‘True Diamonds’ - its people. As the brilliance and allure of our diamonds continues to wane, as with any other non-renewable resource, and investments in ‘true diamonds’ begin to give a healthy return on investment as demonstrated by our sporting achievements, the situation calls for the country to extend its investment in its true diamonds beyond sports to other spheres of human endeavor.

 

People are a country’s number one asset and human capital the most important pillar of business success. People hold the key to the country’s future and in response to structural and strategic shifts in the global economic landscape that has seen a drop in the appeal and sale of diamonds, Botswana seeks to diversify its economy away from being resource based to one that depends on the knowledge, skills and competencies of its people as the main raw material that will unlock economic value.

 

Botswana Innovation Hub has been set up as one of the entities that seek to achieve transformation of the country from a resource based to a technology-driven and knowledge-based economy through investment in people. The company aims to build the country’s first science and technology park in which to polish the country’s true diamonds by fostering entrepreneurship and technology transfer, promoting a culture of innovation and competitiveness and developing advanced science and technology innovation capital.

 

In an effort to create an enabling innovation environment, Botswana Innovation Hub established its flagship Technology Entrepreneurship Development programme, First Steps Venture Centre (FSVC) to support technology transfer and offer a one-stop-shop for entrepreneurial support that will polish the country’s true diamonds and enhance their competitiveness in the global market. Established in May 2013, FSVC identifies, develops and nurtures viable technology oriented start-up businesses with a potential to grow locally and into international markets.

 

A year into its existence, FSVC displayed flair and big match temperament by bursting onto the world stage with an ingenious, show stopping curtain raiser conference for the 2014 IASP Africa Division Conference that was held at the Gaborone International Convention Centre (GICC) in April this year. Dubbed the 2014 IASP Africa Division Pre-Conference, the trailblazing workshop with a youth and technology entrepreneurship focus featured a business idea pitching session in the mould of the famous BBC Dragons Den television programme. The FSVC pitching session adopted the name Lion’s Den to bring it closer to home and featured entrepreneurs pitching their viable and potentially very profitable business ideas to a panel of venture capitalists "Lions" with a view to secure invaluable investment finance and mentorship from possible backers.

 

An upbeat FSVC programme manager Tshepo Tsheko said, “The innovative and creative addition to the IASP conference was the first of its kind and distinguished FSVC as a formidable player on the global stage.” He said the achievement set the tone of where FSVC wants to go and emphasised that innovation and support network is an integral ingredient in any start-up eco-system. “FSVC programme not only aims to nurture technology start-ups into sustainable enterprises that will graduate into the mainstream economy, provide employment and contribute to local economic development but also ensures that these enterprises will be competitive enough to venture into regional and global markets,” he said.

 

Themed, "Expanding African Economic Frontiers through Emerging Technology Entrepreneurs and Innovators," the novel Pre-Conference workshop addressed issues around Business Incubation and Acceleration, Financing Technology Start-Ups and Protection of Intellectual Property. Also featured into the workshop were real-life testimonials from distinguished business leaders and guests in the technology entrepreneurship development and enterprise development space from across the world.

 

In a post conference interview, Botswana Innovation Hub’s Cluster Development Director, Dr Budzanani Tacheba said that the Pre-Conference and Lion’s Den initiatives were fresh and brilliant ideas that focused on entrepreneurship and its relevance to the Science and Technology Park environment. He said, “The IASP has since adopted the trendsetting ideas of the pre-conference and business idea pitch session into their conferences beginning with the next International Conference to be held in Doha, Qatar in October later this year.”

 

Delighted with the outcome of both the pre-conference and the Lion’s Den, Tsheko says the rapid rate of the technology adoption lifecycle constantly challenges his team to stay ahead of the game with savvy solutions for their clients. “FSVC offers an attractive suite of services and amenities to eligible individuals and companies including, ready to use offices (plug and play) with readily available internet and telephone services; subsidized rental – low costs due to shared services, Intellectual Property and legal support; media and brand support; access to local and international industry networks; dedicated technology advisory services; dedicated business advisory - helping combine business plan and strategy; entrepreneurship development training; access to international markets; and lastly we will shortly be offering financial support through the Innovation Fund in line with its policy framework,” he enthused.

 

Its Always Hard To Say Goodbye

When Botswana Innovation Hub evolved from a project office in the Ministry of Infrastructure Science and Technology and Alan Phemelo Boshwaen was tasked with setting up Botswana Innovation Hub company, he set out to establish a lean, agile, professional, motivated, high performance outfit that would deliver a unique structure for professional innovation support and help achieve local and regional economic development objectives. Boshwaen put together an eclectic mix of youth and old hands from a myriad of professional backgrounds to help him deliver on the company’s mandate. With all the skills and expertise he could assemble, the challenge then was how to get them to work together like a well-oiled machine to optimize the company’s strategic objectives.

 

Along came Richard Molosiwa, a human resource management practitioner with extensive work experience and glowing academic credentials to boot. Molosiwa joined Botswana Innovation Hub as Human Resources Manager in September 2013. His brief was to get the specific roles and complementary talents and skills set of Botswana Innovation Hub’s staff aligned to achieve the company’s strategic objectives. The establishment of Botswana’s first science and technology park demands a high performance team and in the eight months that Molosiwa has been with the company, he has set up a robust human resource management policy that covers recruitment, training, talent management, and performance appraisals and rewarding. 

 

Molosiwa holds a Bachelor of Arts degree (University of Botswana), Master of Business Leadership degree (University of South Africa), Executive Development Program degree (University of Cape Town) and Diploma in Company Direction (Graduate Institute of Management and Technology).  He has worked extensively in the local corporate setting and ran a successful consultancy firm before joining Botswana Innovation Hub.

 

A stanch Catholic who was taught to go to church every Sunday and grew up harboring aspirations of becoming a priest, Molosiwa says he is inspired by his mother who raised him and his siblings from meager means and instilled the virtue of education in them.   He points to the late Baledzi Gaolathe who served as Governor of Bank of Botswana and Minister of Finance as his all-time role model and mentor. He says he landed in his profession by ‘accident’, he had chosen Labour Economics as a course in his final year at the University of Botswana, the course was taught by a visiting professor who made him develop interest in labour matters and upon graduating he worked for the Labour Department. “I then made my way into real HR by joining the private sector after two years in government. The rest is history,” he says.

 

On his impressions on the Botswana Innovation Hubs mandate, Molosiwa says the company has a very ambitious mandate which is doable as long as the team pulls together as one. He says the challenge is to get the best out of the skills and competencies within the different employees that constitute the company’s staff. “In simple terms, the company must harness the different talents inherent in each employee in order to achieve the company’s mandate,” he says.

 

Molosiwa went on to say, “So far I have observed that the CEO is open minded on most issues and this should allow the team members to make their voices heard and contribute to advancing the Botswana Innovation Hub mandate. The other good point is the composition of the Botswana Innovation Hub Board. It has a combination of well experienced individuals and I believe this Board will drive the Botswana Innovation Hub mandate to its successful implementation.”

 

Molosiwa is of the view that best management practices recognize people as the number one resource and organizations that are endowed with the best financial and other resources but fail to optimise their human capital often struggle to realize their goal. He says, “I enjoy interacting with people and HR is a natural place to be in. One learns a lot by just listening to others and I have learnt to never judge an individual by either their level in society or level of their education. Everyone has something unique to contribute to this universe, no matter how small.”  

 

Molosiwa leaves Botswana Innovation Hub at the end of May to take up office at Khoemacau Copper Mining Company. He is modest about his achievements at Botswana Innovation Hub and downplays his achievements by insisting that it is up to his former colleagues to determine whether he made a meaningful impact during his stay at the company. “Eight months is a short time to achieve anything but I came into Botswana Innovation Hub from a consultancy world where eight months is long enough to achieve something,” he says.

 

In a small ceremony to bid him farewell, CEO Boshwaen said Molosiwa distinguished himself by being the embodiment of a high performance employee and setting up and implementing the company’s HR policies in record time. He thanked Molosiwa for his invaluable contribution to the success of the company and wished him well in his future endeavors.

 

For his part, Molosiwa said, “The future of Botswana innovation Hub is exciting and future success will be determined by how much each employee contributes or is allowed to contribute. The skills sets (competencies) at Botswana Innovation Hub are quiet diverse and all have a part to play. The challenge is whether there is enough space made at the ‘table of ideas’ to allow young and creative minds to participate in shaping the future.” He emphasized his believe in the objectives of Botswana Innovation Hub and said he will forever remain a Friend of the company.  

 

Molosiwa is married Tebogo. The couple have three children, a daughter and three sons. In their spare time, the couple have turned a hobby into a thriving agribusiness. They run a successful irrigation farming project outside Molepolole and have been named the preferred farmers by the Shoprite Group that also owns Checkers and U-Save retailers. The business which employs seven full time employees is doing so well Tebogo has quit her job to run it on a full time basis.

 

The Legacy of the 2014 IASP Africa Division Conference

For a company that is still in its infancy and working hard to find its footing in the fiercely contested ‘beauty pageant’ for foreign direct investment (FDI), Botswana Innovation Hub put together a compelling bid for the 2014 International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation (IASP) Africa Division Conference and went on to successfully host the event.  Appropriately themed, ‘Science and Technology Park’s expanding economic frontiers in Africa.’ The Director General of IASP Luis Sanz applauded the company for hosting a conference that achieved its primary goal of highlighting the role of science and technology parks as, “complex structures for professional innovation support and helping to achieve local and regional economic development objectives.”

 

The bid to host the conference was made a year earlier at the 30^th annual IASP conference in Racife, Brazil and at the time Botswana Innovation Hub was an affiliate member of the worldwide network of science parks and areas of innovation. The affiliate member status was conferred on account of the fact that construction of the local science park had barely commenced, the company was still growing its active membership numbers and partnerships that offer professional innovation support and programmes that cultivate a vibrant innovation ecosystem.  

 

The company’s ambitious bid and successful conference is a powerful declaration of its presence and statement of intent by the relatively new player in the global economic sphere and the use of science and technology parks as special purpose vehicles for economic diversification. Botswana Innovation Hub has been established as part of a game changing national ensemble that has been put together to play a key role in the country’s economic diversification drive. The company is set to transform Botswana into a technology-driven and knowledge-based economy through attraction of FDI in technology transfer and adaption, research commercialization and fostering a stronger national system of innovation and technology entrepreneurship development.

 

The success of the 2014 IASP Africa Division is a demonstration of the company’s resolve to play in the major league of the global economy and has left a lasting legacy for Botswana Innovation Hub. While the many benefits from conference attendance are hard to quantify, the local economic benefits of flights, lodging, subsistence and sale of art and craft are undeniable. There is also the networking, the opportunity to build new partnerships, strengthen innovation strategies and promote world-class research and the opportunity for the company to attract FDI inflows and spur knowledge-based economic growth.   

 

The major outcome of the conference however came a month after the conference when Botswana Innovation Hub CEO Alan Boshwaen announced that the IASP Executive Board declared that it has bestowed full member credentials on Botswana Innovation Hub, “for its fulfilment of all conditions of being operational, including having active innovation programmes such as FSVC, MIC, Clean Tech, SAiS, making tangible progress in construction of the park and having an active member list comprising academic institutions, public and private sector partners, small and large businesses and a growing list of anchor tenants that have signed up to locate in the park.”

IASP membership confers full IASP accreditation on Botswana Innovation Hub, international visibility, global networking and access to a broad knowledge base with a formidable multiplier of resources and opportunities. It grants powers on the company to influence policy and the agenda of the global science and technology park association as well as engender transformation of the local economy to a technology driven and knowledge-based one that attracts the FDI flows and contributes to the country’s economic development and competitiveness.