OpenAIR | Exploring the role of intellectual property in open development

"From 9 to 13 December 2013, delegates from national and international governmental entities, the private sector, civil society and academia will gather for five days of interconnected events in Cape Town, South Africa. Hosted by the University of Cape Town (UCT), participants will engage with diverse perspectives and future scenarios for intellectual property (IP), innovation and development during the combined 3rd Global Congress on IP and the Public Interest and Open A.I.R. Conference on Innovation and IP in Africa. These concurrent events are being convened at the historic Breakwater Lodge conference centre in Cape Town's Waterfront district ... The Congress and Conference will contextualise African approaches within the larger paradigms of global public interest IP, and will seek to build momentum towards more sustainable, coordinated engagement with these crucial issues. Building on the momentum generated by the 1st Global Congress in Washington, DC in 2011 and the 2nd Global Congress in Rio de Janeiro in 2012, the Cape Town 2013 theme, 'Global questions, local answers', will explore how public interests converge or diverge in various contexts around the world.  There will also be the launch of a book published by UCT Press and authored by Open A.I.R. researchers, provisionally entitled Innovation and Intellectual Property: Collaborative Dynamics in Africa, and the launch of a compendium of forward-looking research, Future Scenarios for African Innovation."