Banha Private University, in cooperation with the Egyptian Intellectual Property Office, organized an introductory workshop titled “The Role of Intellectual Property in Serving Industry: From Innovation to Investment,” under the patronage of Dr. Gamal El-Saeed, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and attended by Dr. Tamer Samir, President of the University, Dr. Hesham Azmy, Head of the Intellectual Property Office, and several experts and industry leaders.

Dr. Tamer Samir emphasized that the university prioritizes innovation and entrepreneurship, describing the workshop as a strategic step towards building a permanent institutional partnership with the Intellectual Property Office to serve the industrial community in Obour City. He highlighted the university’s commitment to enhancing its institutional capacity in intellectual property as a key condition to achieving its vision as a leading university in innovation and community service.

The president stressed the importance of the Intellectual Property Office’s support through capacity-building programs for faculty, researchers, and students, appointing an official university representative in intellectual property to act as a liaison with the office, and establishing a regional office within the university campus to serve the industrial community and ensure knowledge and services reach all stakeholders.

He explained that cooperation with the Intellectual Property Office will help transform university research outcomes into marketable products and services, support startups, encourage local industry to adopt innovative solutions for pressing challenges, and enhance Obour City’s position as an attractive environment for knowledge-based investment and innovation.

Dr. Hesham Azmy noted that the Egyptian state has given great attention to the intellectual property system as a fundamental tool for building a knowledge economy and enhancing national competitiveness. He mentioned the launch of the National Intellectual Property Strategy in September 2022, the first comprehensive strategy in Egypt’s history, aligned with Egypt Vision 2030, with four main goals, including maximizing the returns of intellectual property to support the national economy, especially the industrial sector, which is the backbone of economic development.

Azmy added that innovation is central to modern industry, and that inventions, trademarks, industrial designs, and copyrights are tools enabling Egyptian industries to enhance competitiveness and open new export horizons. Intellectual property transforms innovation from a mere idea into a market product with real economic value. The Intellectual Property Office works on developing legislation and procedures to comply with international standards, digitizing services, facilitating registration processes, and providing comprehensive databases to stakeholders and innovators, thus enhancing technology transfer opportunities and launching cooperation initiatives with universities and research centers to encourage partnerships with industry and convert research results into practical applications.

Dr. Mahmoud Saqr, university advisor for scientific research and innovation, stated that the university aims through these activities to build an integrated system supporting applied scientific research and encouraging innovation protection. He emphasized the importance of forming alliances and establishing intellectual property units in various industrial sectors.

He also highlighted the need to promote intellectual property culture among researchers and students as an important step towards transforming research outputs into products and services that support industry and society.

The workshop included a documentary about Banha Private University, an introductory lecture on the history of intellectual property in Egypt and the national strategy, and a lecture on the role of intellectual property in scientific research and economic development by Dr. Iman Saleh, supervisor of the General Administration of Patents at the Intellectual Property Office.

The workshop concluded with practical recommendations to enhance joint cooperation between Banha Private University and the Intellectual Property Office to support innovation and transform it into added value serving industry and society.