The CarIPI Project’s Fourth Annual Work Plan endorsed at Sub-Project Steering Committee (Sub-PSC) meeting in St. Lucia
On 25 October 2022, the CARIFORUM Intellectual Property and Innovation project met in Castries, Saint Lucia with the intellectual property (IP) offices of its Member States. The aim was to discuss present and future activities of the project and to continue promoting and boosting innovation and IP rights in the Caribbean region.
The fourth Sub-PSC meeting enabled its members to review the state of play of the CarIPI project, and to endorse the fourth Annual Work Plan (AWP4), setting out the specific activities to be carried out by the project from 1 November 2022 until project closure, scheduled for 30 April 2024.
The AWP4 will have a longer duration than previous work plans as it spans 18 months instead of 12. It will essentially be the final work plan for the project. There will be a continuation of foundational activities from previous years, such as accession to treaties, common practices in trade marks and industrial designs and digitisation of procedures and processes. There will also be a significantly intensified focus on the private sector and on creating a legacy of resource materials, such as information booklets, fact sheets, targeted videos and model laws and guidelines.
During AWP4, activities will focus on building capacities within the private sector to get a better understanding of how IP tools can be strategically used in their businesses. The project will continue its Mentorship Programme with a second cohort of producer groups. In addition, other areas of focus will be the blue economy and women entrepreneurs, including indigenous women.
Since its inception in November 2019, has CarIPI worked towards supporting the CARIFORUM States in implementing CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) commitments, and facilitated the sharing of knowledge and experience on how IP systems can better respond to the needs of SMEs so that they can do business globally while safeguarding their IP.
CarIPI is an international cooperation project funded by the European Union and implemented by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). It was set up to strengthen the intellectual property rights environment in the Caribbean region, to foster trade and investment, and to stimulate innovation and competitiveness in the private sector. As the ‘innovation and intellectual property rights’ component of the EPA support programme, CarIPI aims to contribute towards achieving the commitments and expected benefits of the EPA, thus laying the ground for a sustainable long-term regional framework and cooperation in the field of intellectual property. The project began on 1 November 2019, with an expected duration of 48 months. Following the signature of the amendment to the Contribution Agreement (Addendum No.1 signed by the parties on 10 May 2021) to increase funds to reach an EUIPO contribution of 30 % (EUR 1.2 million), the duration was extended by six months and the project will now run until 30 April 2024.