Oops Panama did it again!

We have some news from Panama, again! It was recently that we became aware of a patent regional initiative that was taking place in Latin America as part of CAF (Development Bank of Latin America). A little reminder: because of the low performance of the region in the development of own innovative technologies, CAF aimed to establish a regional program– to reverse this trend. What CAF did was to identify and prioritize certain factors/indicators such as: International patent applications (PCT); Patents granted in important markets; Royalties arising from the licensing of IP; and High technology exports. Once the data was collected the next step was to do a comparative analysis with other regions: Asia, North America and Europe.

A few days ago Álvaro Atilano, the coordinator of the Technological Patents Regional Initiative for Development, informed us that "Panama added 84 technological concepts, with which the country is getting ready to start the patent application process required by international agencies to achieve their registry."

February, all hands in: the CAF Method for the Accelerated Development of Patents.
This regional initiative led by CAF and carried out by the National Secretariat for Science, Technology, and Innovation saw in weeks time "the participation of 90 people from 16 companies of the private sector and state institutions. They were provided with 66 hours of instruction, which were helpful to create, design, structure, and present their innovative ideas with the objective of registering them through the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)." Indeed, as Atilano put it, it was a 'useful week'.

Atilano added that the institutions became more aware that Panama can generate highly innovative ideas. He noted that participants came up "with a series of technological concepts that have good possibilities of being patented. These results, added to those of last year, when we obtained 136 technological concepts, help position Panama with respect to the registration of technological patent".

The CAF Method for the Accelerated Development of Patents seeks to 1)break the currently existing paradigms in the region regarding innovation; and 2)how to conceptualize patentable technologies, including drafting quality patents. CAF has previously used this method (accelerated development of patents) in Medellin, and Monterrey.

Thanks Atilano for passing this news - you did it again! well done.

For more information see here.