Supported by the European Commission, the Africa Europe Innovation Partnership (AEIP) is an initiative that aims to accelerate innovation across Africa and Europe. Through the AEIP partnership, SARIMA participated in the 4th AEIP event. This virtual event ran from 23 June 2020 to 9 July 2020 directed toward technology transfer. With the theme of “Building Tenable Technology Transfer from Africa and Europe, the event consisted of a public policy forum, a capacity upgrading training for TTOs, and a community of practice meeting by invitation. SARIMA actively participated in the public policy forum and Dr Janine Chantson, SARIMA Vice-President for Innovation and Technology Transfer presented the challenges and opportunities from the perspective of an African technology transfer office. The capacity upgrading training was led by SARIMA to provide training to the African TTO community. Training topics were selected based on a needs assessment conducted by the AEIP.  These included:

1. Managing Impact of Research, Intellectual Property Basics;
2. and overview of establishing a TTO and
3. Agreements and managing conflict of interest in technology transfer.

Thirty participants from across Africa were selected to participate in the capacity upgrading sessions. Overall, the capacity upgrading sessions were very well received by the participants.  SARIMA’s involvement in this initiative was a great opportunity to increase its visibility across the continent, make new connections and potentially grow membership. SARIMA also demonstrated its value as a strategic capacity building partner in the innovation ecosystem.