Protecting Indigenous Knowledge in South Africa

Debates on Intellectual Property Rights and Development

Tags: Southern Africa , Knowledge Platform

In the study 'Protecting Indigenous Knowledge in South Africa', Lidewyde Berckmoes explores the possible role of Intellectual Property Rights in realising an environment conducive for the creation, sharing
and use of Indigenous Knowledge for development. The study focussed on different stakeholder positions in the heated but immobile IK and IPR debate. In this study, a solution for the impasse is sought by looking
at IK and IPR through the lens of innovation systems. The study was carried out for the Research and Communication division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Netherlands as part of the postgraduate CIDIN traineeship programme, and included collaboration with HIVOS and HIVOS partners in South Africa.