Côte d’Ivoire adopts a national IP strategy to power competitiveness

Côte d’Ivoire has taken a major step to strengthen its innovation ecosystem by adopting a comprehensive National Intellectual Property (IP) Strategy, approved at a workshop in Abidjan in August 2025.

The IP strategy is structured around six key pillars: legislative reform, institutional capacity building, education and public awareness, anti-counterfeiting and anti-piracy measures, protection and promotion of traditional knowledge, and support for innovation and the commercialization of inventions.

According to Dr. Paul Assandé, Director General of the Ivorian Intellectual Property Office (OIPI), the government’s goal is to make IP a central lever in the country’s economic transformation. Côte d’Ivoire is already among the top three patent applicants in the OAPI region, averaging 20 patents per year, but the strategy aims to unlock much greater potential by fostering synergies among innovation stakeholders and creating support infrastructure such as technology and innovation support centers, technology transfer offices, and creative labs.

The strategy also includes mechanisms to recognize and protect cultural heritage and traditional expressions, and to mobilize funding for innovative entrepreneurship. Public awareness campaigns, including the annual Ivorian IP and Innovation Days (JIP2I) and the INVENT’ DEMAIN project, are designed to encourage young people and researchers to value and protect their creative ideas.

Dr. Assandé called on business leaders to integrate IP into their development strategies, noting that intangible assets are increasingly valued over tangible ones in the knowledge economy. The new strategy is expected to provide a clear roadmap for mobilizing all stakeholders and making IP a true driver of socio-economic development in Côte d’Ivoire.