From left: Mr. Regan Asgarali, Mr. Richard Aching and Ms. Anne Marie Omed Joseph

uSTART, the business accelerator programme of The University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT), functions as an engine of innovation and enterprise, fostering an ecosystem that supports entrepreneurial mindsets of both students and staff of UTT through the provision of a physical business space and Business Development Services inclusive of access to hosted seminars, workshops, and other opportunities originating at uSTART and with partner organisations.

On Wednesday 13^th April, 2016, the Entrepreneurship and Business Development Department hosted the Trinidad and Tobago Intellectual Property Office (TTIPO) at uSTART. The TTIPO is a department within the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs, which is the local government agency responsible for handling the registration and conflict resolution of intellectual property rights. The Intellectual Property (IP) Seminar was facilitated by the TTIPO team, which included Ms. Anne Marie Omed Joseph, Deputy Controller, Mr. Richard Aching, Manager, Technical Examination and Mr. Regan Asgarali, Controller (Ag.). The seminar was presented to an audience of 24 entrepreneurs from not only uSTART and the AboUTT Store, but from the National Integrated Business Incubator System (IBIS) and the FairShare Programme and members of the UTT staff.  

The workshop was geared toward providing entrepreneurs with a better understanding of IP, how to safeguard the rights of their various forms of work and to put them in contact with other entrepreneurs within the intellectual property sphere. The IP seminar included areas such as copyright and related rights, industrial property, exceptions to copyright, trademarks and the various aspects of brand protection. Toward the end of the session, the presentations were broken down further to target various businesses in the audience including film, animation and the fashion industry.

The IP seminar was a success, with the 93% of entrepreneurs rating the knowledge they gained with a nine or ten out of ten. By the end of the seminar most companies had networked with other companies and with the TTIPO to further their knowledge.

uSTART wishes to thank the Intellectual Property Office team, Ms. Joanna Ramkissoon, Ms. Anne Marie Omed Joseph, Mr. Richard Aching and Mr. Regan Asgarali for their assistance and collaboration as uSTART continues to strive to achieve UTT and uSTART’s mission, “To be an entrepreneurial university designed to discover and develop entrepreneurs, commercialize research and development and spawn companies for wealth generation and sustainable job creation towards the equity enhancement of the quality of life of all individuals, families and communities of the republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean. “

View of the audience