The second capacity building workshop of the IPICA Project was held at the premises of The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Bridgetown in Barbados, from the 23rd to the 25th of March 2015.

The objective of the workshop was to provide STI policy makers and leaders of research organisations practical know-how and opportunities to exchange with peers on international good practice in regulation, management, and evaluation of STI activities.

The workshop gathered some 20 stakeholders from the Barbadian Innovation System, as well as the project partners: ONAPI and INTEC from Dominican Republic, UTECH and JIPO from Jamaica, UWI from Jamaica and Barbados and TTIPO from Trinidad and Tobago.Experts from the University of Alicante, FH JOANNEUM Austria, World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (SPTO), Caribbean Community Secretariat (CARICOM), Technopolis Group, Austria and Scientific Research Council (SRC) Jamaica, delivered the programme.

The workshop aimed to provide good practice examples and stimulate discussions around two main topics:

Regional Innovation

• Regional Innovation Systems
• Key driving factors for regional innovation
• Linking regional development and intellectual capital

IP Policies and strategies

• Caribbean STI systems and the role of IPR
• IP policy reform processes

Prior to the workshop, the project partners held a coordination meeting – on 23rd of March, to review project progress and plan the project activities to be undertaken in the upcoming months.

The third IPICA Capacity Building Workshop will be hosted by UWI and will take place in Trinidad and Tobago in December 2015. The third workshop will be tailored particularly towards inventors and social entrepreneurs STI issues.