IP and technology in Africa: looking back to look forward

The African continent has experienced virtually uninterrupted growth since the mid-1990s. Besides the abundance of natural resources, IP and technology have played a significant role in Africa’s ongoing economic growth and development. This first issue of Special Edition of International Review of Law, Computers & Technology Journal on Africa explores the intersection of IP and technology in the areas of tax, education, agriculture, among others. The edition opens with Afolashade Adewunmi’s paper, which evaluates how intangible cultural heritage could be protected in the face of rapid technological development. For a continent that survived colonialism and suffered an erosion of its heritage in the process, Adewunmi is concerned that this may be exacerbated by technological advancement. She notes how existing IPs like copyright are inadequate to protect intangible cultural heritage. Although with some challenges, the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage provides some solace and nudges some countries to establish appropriate laws. The work summarises the landscape of protection in Africa and provides a case study on traditional craftmanship from Nigeria. Rather than being regarded as a threat, the author concludes that technology should be utilised to document and preserve cultural heritage. Ibijoke Byron, in the following article, tackles a related but different issue on heritage, the protection of traditional knowledge. The paper investigates the preservation of traditional knowledge under a sui generis regime in Nigeria. Her discussion of protection of TK under customary law, international law, such as (Convention on Biodiversity and Nagoya Protocol and Johannesburg Plan of Implementation) is illuminating. This illustration underscores that traditional knowledge ‘is vital for life in a natural environment as it can be of benefit to health, food security and agriculture’. However, it is faced with threats from intellectual property regimes and economic globalisation processes. It decries the legislative gap in Nigeria and recommends the implementation of a sui generis regime that will take cognisance of international initiatives on the protection of TK. Our next paper, ‘the Digital Tax Reform for Africa: Customised or One-Size-Fits-All Approach?’ aims to formulate high level-level international tax policy suitable for the peculiarities of the African continent. Nikolai Milogolov and Azamat Berberov underscore the evolving nature and the role of digitalisation in African economies and why the continent must participate in debates on shaping future tax reform policies. Africa faces higher fiscal risks from the potential inability to tax income obtained by foreign digital businesses but do not have a physical presence on the continent. In making its argumentations, the work adopts analytical, case study and economic approaches to address the continent’s current challenges. African countries’ diverse economic development and digital readiness should not be barriers to Africas’ formulating its tax policies. Leaders on the continent must embrace collaboration and cooperation in designing customised tax regimes for the region. The excellent contribution of Helen Chuma-Okoro and Ifeoma Oluwasemilore introduces the theme of COVID-19 into the IP-Technology dialogue. One of the resultant effects of the COVID-19 virus is its threat to food security. The disruption of the food industry left stakeholders to re-evaluate their business models. Examining the tripartite interconnection of IPR, Agricultural biotechnology and food sufficiency in Africa, these authors navigate how the IP system could strengthen self-food sufficiency from Nigeria’s perspective. They argue that experience from COVID-19 lockdown shows that achieving food self-sufficiency