Africa — All Publications — Chidi Oguamanam

Asking the Traditional Knowledge Question as a Reality Check

How are the Cradle Principles on Knowledge Governance relevant to Traditional Knowledge in Africa?

Op-EdChidi OguamanamJune 29, 2025Innovation, OpenAIR, Africa, Scaling, Sustainability, IP and Knowledge Governance

Equitable Governance of Agri-food Data is Imperative for Global Food Security

Did you know that small farmers’ access to agri-food data can impact food security on a global scale?

Op-EdChidi OguamanamFebruary 11, 2025Innovation, OpenAIR, Africa, Scaling, Sustainability, IP and Knowledge Governance

Kente Weaving Among Akan and Ewe Peoples of Ghana

International Journal of Cultural Property
(December 2024)

Journal ArticleChidi OguamanamDecember 11, 2024Africa, IP and Knowledge Governance, Indigenous, Indigenous Knowledge

Power Contestations in the Use of Agri-food Data: Towards a Sustainability Governance Approach

Law, Technology and Humans
(October 2024)

Journal ArticleChidi OguamanamOctober 14, 2024Africa, IP and Knowledge Governance, Indigenous, Indigenous Knowledge

WIPO-IGC 47: Resetting IGC After 2024 Diplomatic Conference on Genetic Resources

Professor Chidi Oguamanam’s reflections in advance of WIPO’s IGC 47.

Blog PostChidi OguamanamJune 4, 2023Africa, IP and Knowledge Governance, Indigenous, Indigenous Knowledge

A Critical Examination of the African Legal Framework for Indigenous Knowledge

Journal of African Law
Vol. 67, Issue 1 (February 2023)

Journal ArticleChidi OguamanamMarch 31, 2023Africa, IP and Knowledge Governance, Indigenous, Indigenous Knowledge

Smart Farming and Artificial Intelligence in East Africa: Addressing Indigeneity, Plants, and Gender

Smart Agricultural Technology
Vol. 3 (February 2023)

Journal ArticleChidi OguamanamMarch 31, 2023Agriculture and Biodiversity, Africa, IP and Knowledge Governance, Artificial Intelligence

Transition to the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Africa’s Science, Technology and Innovation Framework and Indigenous Knowledge Systems

African Journal of Legal Studies
Vol. 15, Issue 1 (January 2023)

Journal ArticleChidi OguamanamMarch 31, 2023Africa, IP and Knowledge Governance, Indigenous, Indigenous Knowledge

How African Knowledge-Based Enterprises Seek Scale: Research Findings From 10 Countries

The Open AIR network has collected data in numerous African innovation settings over the past decade, and has developed a four-pillar taxonomy of scaling practices.

Op-EdChidi OguamanamMarch 31, 2021Innovation, OpenAIR, Africa, Scaling, Sustainability, IP and Knowledge Governance

Covid-19 Digital Health Innovations: The African Context

“Dealing with health and economic challenges of COVID-19 has made one point abundantly clear for African countries – that we need broadband, faster, cheaper and expanded to the last mile of the populations.”

Blog PostChidi OguamanamMarch 26, 2021COVID-19, Vaccine, Health Law and Medical Ethics, Technology, WHO, United Nations, Rwanda, Senegal, AI, Liberia, Digital Services, Africa

Africa's Unique Vulnerabilities Require a Different Pandemic Approach

Africa’s fate is precarious in the face of COVID-19. It is the last continent to be affected by COVID-19 following the arrival of the contagion in Egypt and Nigeria in February 2020.

Op-EdChidi OguamanamOctober 6, 2020Africa, WHO, COVID-19, Senegal, China, United Nations, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Health Law and Medical Ethics, Education

COVID-19 and Vaccine Nationalism: Africa’s Pathway to Access

Except perhaps South Africa, credible statistics on the extent of the COVID-19 infection in African countries are lacking. So far, African countries could not sustain two full months of lockdown.

Op-EdChidi OguamanamOctober 6, 2020Africa, WHO, Vaccine, COVID-19, Canada, R&D, Health Law and Medical Ethics

COVID-19: In the Shadow of Ebola, the Patent War to Come and a Forgotten Africa

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world continues to overlook the epidemic raging on in some of the poorest regions of Africa since 2013: the Ebola outbreak.

Blog PostChidi OguamanamMay 22, 2020Ebola, Africa, COVID-19, DRC, Médecins Sans Frontières, WHO, United Nations, Canada, Health Law and Medical Ethics, Guinea, Liberia, China, Costa Rica, Chile, Kenya, Pharmaceutical

COVID-19 and the Amazon: Indigenous Peoples, Conservation Under Threat

The COVID-19 pandemic is undoubtedly having an effect on the human population around the world, but its impact on the environment, especially in terms of conservation, is less publicized.

Blog PostChidi OguamanamMay 15, 2020Amazon, Brazil, Agriculture and Biodiversity, Colombia, Africa, COVID-19, Indigenous, Technology, Health Law and Medical Ethics, South America, Vatican

Public Health, Africa, and COVID-19

As an African and a Canadian, I inhabit an observatory. I am a resident in two worlds of blunt contrasts. On a good note, those contrasts offer privileged lessons on the richness and complexity of the human experience, of our world.

Blog Post, Op-EdChidi OguamanamMarch 27, 2020Africa, Canada, Health Law and Medical Ethics, USA, China, Italy, Europe, Ebola, COVID-19, South Africa, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Politics

Africa, Innovation, and the Fourth Industrial Revolution

The Third Industrial Revolution (3IR) provided perhaps the most significant insights into Africa’s potential to fast-track its march to sustainable development.

Op-EdChidi OguamanamNovember 13, 2019Technology, IP and Knowledge Governance, Africa, United Nations, International, South Africa, WIPO

The Partnership Imperative for African Innovation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

The entrepreneurial uptake of computer technology and the increasing digitisation have made Africa a source of intellectual power in the digital sphere.

Op-EdChidi OguamanamNovember 7, 2019Technology, Africa, IP and Knowledge Governance, South Africa, Nigeria, United Nations, International, WIPO

Plant Breeders’ Rights, Farmers’ Rights and Food Security: Africa’s Failure of Resolve and India’s Wobbly Leadership

Indian Journal of Law and Technology
Vol. 14, Issue 2 (2018)

Journal ArticleChidi OguamanamOctober 10, 2019Agriculture and Biodiversity, Africa, India, IP and Knowledge Governance, African Union

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