HRH Princess Sumaya Inaugurates? Promoting Innovation and IP for Development? Workshop

We hope that more cooperation will take place between the Organization and the RSS since they both aim at boosting the economic development and they are assets to the national economy-HRH Princess Sumaya
Jordanian laws support investment in research and development; however, there is a basic issue that should be addressed since the largest percentage of allocations is spent on foreign scholarships and I believe that priority should be given to the research centers as the JIC ?Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh

AMMAN --- April 27, 2009 --- Under the patronage of HRH Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan, president of the Royal Scientific Society (RSS), the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Forum, a member of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAG-Org) in cooperation with the Jordan Innovation Center for Engineers and Industrial Enterprises (JIC) at the RSS organized the ?Promoting Innovation and Intellectual Property for Development? workshop on April 27, 2009 at the Society?s premises.
In her opening remarks, HRH Princess Sumaya stated that the RSS seeks to improve its programs to achieve development goals saying that ?new specialized centers and departments have been established in response to the market?s inputs and development needs; one of which is the JIC which is a real partnership between national public and private institutions.?
According to HRH Princess Sumaya, the JIC offers a complete set of services that consider the development processes and infrastructure ?The Center offers marketing consulting services along with financial, legal administrative and technical services for entrepreneurs in order to help them develop and expand their own businesses.?
?Conducting this workshop comes out of the RSS?s concern to promote the culture of innovation and enhance the role of creative thinking,? she added.
?This event sheds light on the cycle life of innovation starting with the crystallization of creative ideas in the inventor?s intellect, developing the idea, applying prototype, protecting it in accordance with the related laws, and then transforming it into a commercial product to be used, sold and licensed.?
HRH Princess Sumaya added that ?increasing the level of the inventors? knowledge concerning the importance of their inventions commercially incur financial revenues for the inventors and the society alike.?
She extended her thanks and appreciation to TAG-Org for being one of the leading institutions on the national and international levels pointing out that ?TAG-Org plays an effective role in various and specialized fields.?

?We hope that more cooperation will take place between the Organization and the RSS since they both aim at boosting the economic development and they are invaluable assets to the national economy,? she stated.
Meanwhile, Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh shed light on the concept of innovation in his opening remarks saying that the ?Jordanian laws support investment in research and development; however, there is a basic issue that should be addressed since the largest percentage of funds is spent on foreign scholarships and I believe that priority should be given to the research centers as the JIC.?

?Specialized manufacturing like medicine and food industries should build strong partnerships with research centers to establish mutual partnerships. In Arab countries, we have the problem of transforming innovation into a commercial product,? he said.

Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh confirmed that innovation should be protected mentioning that ?there is no point to have innovation, if it is not going to be protected; thus, Intellectual Property Rights are of great significance.?
In addition, Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh highly commended the strategic partnership with the RSS and its leading role since its establishment under the leadership of HRH Prince Hassan Bin Talal and the wise management of HRH Princess Sumaya bin El Hassan.

The event tackled important issues in the Intellectual Property (IP) field such as; innovation and IP as a tool for economic growth and trade competitiveness, the financing of innovation, innovation commercialization and licensing. Representing TAG-Org, Mr. Rakan Baybars spoke about the impact of disclosure over the patentability of the invention, meanwhile, Mr. Christophe Malherbe, advisor at Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation discussed the various aspects of the financing of innovation.

In addition to other speakers, Dr. Hiba Zarour from the Hikma Pharmaceuticals and Dr. Fayez Nusair from Al-Isra University shed light on the innovation and IP challenges in a changing world.
The Jordan Innovation Centre for Engineers and Industrial Enterprises at the Royal Scientific Society (JIC) is a joint venture between the Royal Scientific Society, the Jordanian Engineers Association and the Amman Chamber of Industry, under the supervision of the Jordan Upgrading Modernization Program, within the Jordan Enterprise Development Cooperation. JIC aims at help turn innovative ideas into wealth by supporting entrepreneurs to start sustainable business, support spin-off ideas, develop value-added products, identify and exploit markets, hire skilled staff, and graduate as viable stand-alone businesses.

Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAG-Org) is a global partner with 71 offices and 180 correspondents, for all your business needs: auditing, valuation, management consulting, ICT development, business advisory, training, educational consultancy, capital services, human resources development, real estate consulting, translation, legal service, intellectual property rights protection and domain name registration.