Notes on developing a strategic Intellectual Property Plan for Guyana
By Dr. Abiola Inniss Ph.D. LLM Between the years 2013-2017, I conducted a study which investigated how intellectual property law and public policies in the four largest Caricom economies (Guyana, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, and Jamaica) affected the choices made by firms about innovation and technology. The results were validated by a team of peer reviewers. The findings were interesting and even startling, because they revealed that innovation in firms of medium and large size across these sample countries, except one, were reluctant to invest in innovations and accompanying technologies, even where there was more focus on intellectual property rights (IPRs), laws and policies. In the case of Guyana, there are no visible policies on IPRs, the laws are outdated, and there is minimal enforcement, nevertheless it is in this country that the highest levels of endogenous innovations exist. There can be no sou