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The
BIO-EARN Newsletter
A
Publication from the BIO-EARN Regional Coordination Office
No
2, December 2006
It
is encouraging to note that all the BIO-EARN institutions that
are implementing the 2006-2009 projects have received their
first disbursements of funds for 2006 from the Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA) and the
research teams have consequently initiated various activities.
Postdocs and graduate students, who will carry out most of the
research work, have been recruited and some have started
research activities while others are developing their proposals.
In
2006-2009, BIO-EARN aims to develop into a strong network of
partners that can manage regional and international research for
development (R4D), generate
Regional Public Goods required for growth of the Agricultural,
Environmental & Industrial sub-sectors, enhance economies
of scale, scope, and size through collaboration and
rationalization of resources at regional level, create a dynamic
platform to develop capacity and support innovations in
biotechnology and other emergent sciences. To realize these
goals, it will be necessary that all partners acquire good
project management skills and discipline. As a first step to
building this crucial capacity in project management skills, the
Regional Coordination office organized a course in Good Project
Management Practice (GPMP) in September 2006 for the BIO-EARN
research team leaders. The other project team members were also
introduced to GPMP during their planning/kick-off meetings in
November 2006. During this training the research teams learned
all aspects GPMP that are highlighted in this Newsletter
In
addition to acquiring GPMP skills to meet the above intended
goals, BIO-EARN scientists will also need to understand from the
outset the implications of access, and use of Intellectual
Property (IP) management issues such as ownership of IP assets
(e.g. genes, genetic resources, methodology, etc.) that will be
used in the projects for future technology commercialization/
dissemination of products/technologies generated from the
projects. They will need to be aware of the new international
conventions and treaties that have led to new conditions for the
access and use of genetic resources worldwide. A first workshop
to create the IP management awareness was held in
October/November 2006 in Nairobi. It was was organized by COSTECH in collaboration with BIO-EARN’s
Project Five (Policy Project) partners and the BIO-EARN
Regional Coordination Office. In October 2006, Project Five also
initiated a survey on IP policies in the network institutions
and an IP audit in each of the four BIO-EARN research projects.
In
view of the above, BIO-EARN partners are on the right track and
are set to deliver the novel products, technologies and proof of
concepts that they have promised their clients by 2009.
The
Regional Coordination Office would like to encourage all BIO-EARN partners
and remind them that they have a golden opportunity and the
capability to contribute to the bio-resource economy of the
Eastern African region, a challenge that we believe they measure
up to.
(Page
1 of 5)
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