Training Opportunities
Research Fellowships
The Open A.I.R. training components are targeted both internally within the project and externally to relevant stakeholders.
Internal
Internal network training and capacity-building consist of:
- Research methodology support provided to the country teams during and since the May 2011 Open A.I.R. launching workshop, by Open A.I.R. Methodology Consultant Dr. Donna Podems; and
- Granting of Open A.I.R. Research Fellowships to nine emerging African IP researchers, with Research Fellows given the opportunity to work out of the Open A.I.R. Project Office at the University of Cape Town and to participate in several aspects of the project work.
External
The external training and capacity-building, based on the Open A.I.R. case study research findings, consists of:
- seminars;
- workshops; and
- implementation of a course curriculum developed by the project.
Targets for these external training activities include:
- African policy and issue leaders; and
- African grassroots stakeholders, including innovators, creators and entrepreneurs.
The project’s training component is being carried out in cooperation with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), through its initiative entitled “commons@ip - Harnessing the Knowledge Commons for Open Innovation.” The commons@ip initiative focuses on interactions between IP rights and open innovation, the knowledge commons, open licences and collaborative innovation. It is part of the GIZ Train for Trade programme, which aims at strengthening the private sector and its constituent bodies in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region through capacity-building and training in export promotion, quality control, promotion of open innovation –- as well as through promotion of local/regional economic development and local/regional trade.
