Institute and Garissa University exploring areas of collaboration
Caption: Prof. Ahmed Osman Warfa (Centre), Garissa University Vice Chancellor, during the courtesy call by the Institute's officers led by Hibo Hussein (Centre on the Left), Manager, Research and Innovation
The Institute and Garissa University are exploring areas of collaboration in an effort to promote intellectual property (IP) awareness in the country for socio-economic development.
A team of officers from the Institute led by Ms. Hibo Hussein, Manager, Research and Innovation, who paid a courtesy call on Prof. Ahmed Osman Warfa, Vice Chancellor, Garissa University, engaged their counterparts from the University on the eve of the 3rd Garissa University Annual International Conference.
The two teams highlighted various areas of partnership, including capacity building, setting up of a Technology and Innovation Support Centre (TISC) and assisting the University to come up with its institutional Intellectual Property (IP) policy.
TISCs, a project of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), provides intellectual property (IP) users such as researchers, lecturers, students and the business community around a university free access to over 150 million published patent documents and scientific publications globally.
The 3rd Garissa University Annual International Conference on Education, Research, Innovation and Community Transformation was held from the 13th to 15th October, 2026 under the theme 'Harnessing Education, Innovation, Peace, Socio-cultural, Economic Empowerment and Open Science for Community Transformation'.
Among those who attended were Harun Hassan, Commissioner, Public Service Commission (PSC) and Prof. James Onyango, Chairman, Commission for University Education (CUE).
Ms. Hussein explained the importance of industrial property (IP) -patents, industrial designs, utility models -in promoting inventive and innovative activities in the country for socio-economic development.
The Conference attracted scholars, researchers, inventors, students and the business community, including micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
Its objectives include to provide a platform for sharing research findings, innovations, and experiences and to strengthen collaboration among universities, development partners, government agencies and communities.