The Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) participated at the launch of the National ICT IP Guidelines Dissemination Workshop, held at the Muni University Regional ICT Innovation Hub in collaboration with the Ministry of ICT & National Guidance and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
URSB’s participation reaffirms commitment to raising public awareness of the intellectual property (IP) regime in Uganda, as part of its broader mandate to bolster a knowledge-based economy.
Led by senior registration officer Abraham Ageet Onyait, who delivered the keynote address on behalf of the Registrar-General, the URSB team engaged with innovators, entrepreneurs and academia.
The sessions were anchored around themes of IP ownership, contract negotiation, commercialisation strategies and managing IP arising from university research.
Mr Yiga Henry Junior of URSB further underscored practical IP management policies and the suite of URSB services available to protect innovations. URSB holds the legal mandate to register and protect inventions, designs, trademarks and literary works, and its digital IP portal now enables online applications and access to the national IP register.
The workshop forms part of URSB’s strategic objectives to simplify processes, strengthen institutional frameworks and enhance service awareness—key elements outlined in its medium-term budget framework. By collaborating with JICA under the ICT Industry Promotion Project, the Ministry and URSB aim to create a vibrant ecosystem where Ugandan innovators are empowered, protected and positioned for regional competitiveness.
URSB emphasised that such engagements are critical to embedding IP awareness at the institutional level, bridging the gap between research outputs and commercially viable ventures. Industry stakeholders were encouraged to leverage the workshop’s insights to formalise and protect their innovations, thereby contributing to Uganda’s transition into a modern, innovation-driven economy aligned with the goals of Uganda Vision 2040.