- Title
- An analysis of intellectual property awareness among researchers at University of Fort Hare, Alice, South Africa
- Creator
- Mawokomayi-Moffat, Betina https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7299-7327
- Subject
- Intellectual property
- Date
- 2020-09
- Type
- Doctoral theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10353/21224
- Identifier
- vital:47418
- Description
- This study emerges in the period whereby innovation has become relevant in today’s society. Globally, universities are shifting from being merely centers of learning to becoming entrepreneurial universities as they are commercialising their intellectual property (IP). This study analyses IP awareness among researchers at University of Fort Hare (UFH). The study was informed by the pragmatic paradigm and a mixed-methods design was used to collect data. The study focuses on IP awareness activities conducted between 2016 and 2019, data was collected between January 2020 and November 2020 as there was need for collecting more data from the Innovation Office to supplement the data that was initially collected. Closed ended questionnaires were distributed to researchers at UFH since they are potential IP creators, an open-ended questionnaire was also used to collect data from one key informant from the Innovation Office, and a semi-structured interview was conducted with one key informant from the Innovation Office at UFH. Thematic analysis was used to analyse qualitative data from qualitative responses on questionnaires, interview responses and the UFH IP policy. Statistical Package for Social Sciences and Microsoft Excel were used to analyse quantitative data. The study revealed that the UFH Innovation Office employs various communication strategies to create awareness of IP among researchers and that the Office hosts at least three IP workshops each year. The study found out that methods used to create awareness include social media posts, email communication, distributing booklets and fliers that contain IP information, interactive discussions with IP experts, and small visits to faculty researchers, or research groups to conduct presentations on IP. However, despite these initiatives at the University, the study found out that researchers have a low level of IP awareness and this needs to be addressed by the Innovation Office. Interestingly, the results further indicated that UFH values IP and in responding to the requirements of the Intellectual Property Rights from Publicly Funded Research Act, of 2008, the University established its Technology Transfer Office that is responsible for facilitation of commercialisation of research outputs and creating awareness of IP among researchers. The study recommends the need to improve communication strategies for IP awareness and that the Office should employ diversified strategies to educate researchers about the importance of IP and its protection and that awareness activities should not be a once off activity but continuous. The study also recommends the University and the government to consider incorporating IP modules in the curriculum of all disciplines so that every student and researcher would have the knowledge of IP and how it affects people’s lives. The study also recommends that research and development should be prioritised as innovations emanate from research projects.
- Description
- Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2020
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- application/pdf
- Format
- 1 online resource (235 leaves)
- Format
- Publisher
- University of Fort Hare
- Publisher
- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
- Language
- English
- Rights
- University of Fort Hare
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
- Rights
- Open Access
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UFH Department of Communication
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | MAWOKOMAYI MOFFAT BETINA THESIS.pdf | 6 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |