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While virtual interactions are invaluable for teams working across a continent, it cannot replace the value that in-person engagements deliver, with the opportunities to establish and deepen personal and professional relationships.
There is something special about moments that bring together people from different corners of a continent to share not only their expertise, but also their ideas and culture. Africa is unique and its strength is rooted in the shared belief in our values and vision for the future. Opportunities to network across borders do not come around often for IP practitioners in Africa. Many IP practitioners on the continent operate in small practice groups or are sole practitioners with limited resources and varied practices often working with under resourced IP Offices trying to keep up with the demands of a changing IP world.
Over the past 10 years, six of the world's fastest growing economies have been in Africa. Africa's middle class has expanded by more than 30%, creating new markets of opportunities. Mobile tech has leapt from fewer than 400 million subscriptions in 2010 to over 1.2 billion today, reshaping sectors as varied as banking, health and education. Africa is rich with resources and a continent which is fast realising the need for strengthened IP systems.
Building a pan-African network
Adams & Adams hosted its 13th annual Africa Network Meeting (ANM) in September this year, welcoming 84 delegates from 26 countries. The face-to-face contact that the ANM affords the firm and members of the firm's extended network is invaluable. It enables an open exchange of ideas and builds on existing relationships with members of the ANM to ensure seamless operations from Botswana to Burundi and from Morocco to Mauritius.
With Adams & Adams experiencing an expansion from 11 to 23 associate offices since 2012, this annual meeting is a valuable opportunity for members of the network to connect, share insights, review industry relevant developments and share their local expertise with the larger group while enhancing their collective knowledge around IP protection and enforcement for the firm's clients. The ANM underpins the firm's strong personal relationships with its teams across jurisdictions and countries in Africa and sets the firm apart from others who operate on the continent.
The Africa Network Meeting is the largest gathering of Intellectual Property (IP) practitioners and administrators on the continent. The event has evolved since its inception, with increased continent-wide collaboration and the participation of IP administrators (including Registrar Generals and DG's and regional organisations like OAPI (the African Intellectual Property Organisation) and ARIPO (the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation). This collaboration reaffirms the extensive network and the deserved reputation as the go to firm to assist in urgent or technically complex matters.
Addressing challenges in African IP through collaboration and partnership
This year's event ran over 3 days with a series of excursions, plenary sessions and several breakaway forums covering various topics. Breakaway forums during the ANM addressed key developments and challenges facing African countries in the context of the meeting's theme, Owning Innovation: African IP for a Global Stage.
Discussions included a dialogue on outdated legislation in some jurisdictions, a critical subject relating to the digitisation of IP Offices, and the effect of the introduction of the African Free Trade Continental Area (AFCFTA), where the bulk of the IP protocols have recently been approved by member states.
Recognising that ownership, secured through robust IP frameworks, is what gives innovation its power, Adams & Adams has a proactive approach to solving these challenges: training, advocacy, and solutions.
The firm continues to be approached to provide input on the drafting or amendment of IP legislation across the continent and regularly engages with ARIPO to give input at their working groups on amendments to the Harare and Banjul Protocols, ensuring that the legislative framework is sound, user focused and provides enforceable rights. The firm is also working closely with OAPI to assist the office with increasing awareness of the system and new procedures for patent filing and prosecution introduced by revisions to the Bangui Agreement which came into effect on 1 January 2025.
Recognising the importance of personal relationships and the benefit that such interactions bring, it is the firm's policy to travel regularly and extensively across the continent to engage with its associates and administrators in each country. These invaluable interactions with our local partners and IP Offices in each country set the firm apart and entrench Adams & Adams as the firm with the most comprehensive and substantive offering when it comes to IP services in Africa.
Looking ahead
Africa's IP landscape is moving in the right direction, and collaboration is the engine behind that progress. By convening practitioners, partnering with regional organisations, and driving legislative improvements, Adams & Adams remains committed to strengthening the continent's IP architecture so that innovators, businesses, and communities can realise the full value of their ideas.
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