The Ministry of Commerce and Industry celebrated World Intellectual Property Day, themed “Women & IP: Boosting Innovation and Creativity”, in the framework of its commitment to reinforce the dialogue on the importance of intellectual property and enhance its role in developing a positive environment for innovation and creativity.

The celebration aims to highlight the government’s efforts in terms of intellectual property, and the initiatives launched to provide necessary mechanisms to protect female innovators whether inventors, authors, or producers of technical, artistic, or literary content. Besides that, it encourages female innovators for further creativity that fulfills Qatar’s National Vision (2030) that aims to make Qatar an advanced country able to achieve sustainable development and insure its people decent living.

Mrs. Amna Jabir Al Kuwari, head of Intellectual Property Rights Protection Department at MOCI emphasized in her opening speech on the importance of spreading awareness about intellectual property rights in Qatar, noting that the amount of participation in the event reflects how interested both trade and industry sectors are in raising awareness about IP rights in order to preserve the product of human mind and innovation led by the youth we are counting on to build a brighter future.

She stressed on the role of IP in empowering female innovators, pointing to decision makers’ interest in amending and updating IP legislations to match international practices.

Al Kuwari highlighted the national efforts to set a national intellectual property strategy in line with the national vision (2030) in terms of preparing national strategies and executive plans, noting to updating the institutional framework of the intellectual property department through the development of industrial models and drawings, and providing the department with young staff and train them to provide the best service to Qatari and foreign innovators and IP assets holders.

She explained that in line with Qatar’s approach towards improving services provided, IP department services digital transformation is under progress, to facilitate and maintain rights registration from any violation. She pointed that awareness programs and spreading intellectual property norms is an interest to many through implementing the largest number of programs and target audiences, whether school or college students, trade and industry sectors, and legal community.

Al Kuwari stated that allotment of Trade and Investment Court we witnessed recently according to law. (21) of 2021 to handle the disputes regarding patents, trademarks, industrial models, trade secrets, and

other IP rights, is proof of the government’s interest in IP rights and the importance of solving related disputes without delay.

She further pointed out that on international level, Qatar’s membership in Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) since 2011 is a window for local innovators towards 156 countries members in the treaty. In addition to access to a huge amount of technical information in multiple sectors, to achieve general benefit from international treaties: MOCI is in the process of joining more international treaties that helps innovators protect their assets of trademarks, and industrial models in most countries.

On the sidelines of the celebration, the accompanying exhibition was inaugurated, where the participants displayed their innovations in various fields.

The ceremony witnessed panel discussions that highlighted crucial topics, most notably women role in intellectual property emergence and encouraging investments, and intellectual property’s role in life aspects. As well as discussing intellectual property’s role in the national efforts to empower women to create a better future, the challenges, and opportunities to improve the use of intellectual property systems by women, and inventors’ role in diversifying the economy, in addition to a display of Qatari women success stories.

The female innovators and entrepreneurs participated in the accompanying exhibition, and panel discussions participants were honored.

It should be noted that World Intellectual Property Day was first celebrated in 2000, in aim of spreading the culture of intellectual property, and raise the peoples’ awareness and encourage them to innovate in the field of inventions: literary and artistic compilations and offer them information by experts to protect their innovations.