Rwanda today joined the rest of the world in celebrating the World Intellectual Property Day by holding a seminar with stakeholders from the sports sector on the importance of IP (intellectual property) rights in sport.

The day-long event brought together over 100 stakeholders from sports federations, academies and clubs, broadcasting agencies, private sector companies and government institutions.

Held under the theme ‘Reach for Gold: IP and Sports’, the participants discussed how to use IP rights to increase revenues from sporting activities.

In his opening remarks, the Rwanda Development Board Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Emmanuel Hategeka, said:

“Sports have become a global multi-billion-dollar industry that generate investments in facilities ranging from sports stadia to broadcasting networks, employs millions of people around the world and entertains many. Business relationships built on IP rights help to secure the economic value of sports. This, in turn, stimulates growth of the industry by enabling sporting organizations to finance the events we savor, and provides the means to promote sports development right from the grassroots.”

Rwanda joined the Patent Cooperation Treaty and Harare Protocol in 2011. Since the accession to these instruments, the number of patent and utility models applications in Rwanda increased from 494 in 2010 to 1,937 last year.