THE Business Registration and Licensing Agency (Brela) has started a campaign to provide education on intellectual property to various groups including higher learning institutions in the country.

Loy Mhando, Brela intellectual property director, said this yesterday when speaking to journalists about World Intellectual Property Day which is marked by Tanzania in Dar es Salaam today.

Minister of Industry and Trade Dr Ashatu Kijaji is scheduled to open officiate the event whose theme is Intellectual property: Building our Common Future with Innovation and Creativity'.

She said that Brela has decided to come up with the campaign after realising that many people are not well aware of intellectual property issues hence the need to reach out to people in groups so that they understand in large numbers.

"We have gone to universities; we have talked with investors and traders and we are collaborating with the Commission for Science and Technology COSTECH to reach innovators of various technologies because the commission looks at technology and creativity," she said.

Mhando said that through the collaboration they have identified technologies invented by youth in different regions whereby they have identified 25 youth technologies and Brela has advised them to improve the same in a way that can solve social problems.

"But we make sure their innovators are protected and we prevent other people from using them without their consent. This gives innovators the courage to continue innovating more tools because they know their works will be protected by the agency," she said.

She said that another strategy of the agency is to educate journalists so that they can recognize the rights of innovators, adding that so far they have trained 160 journalists from various media houses.

Regarding the celebrations, she said the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) was established with the aim of promoting and protecting the rights of innovators and protecting marks placed on products or services, intellectual property and copyright.

"Tanzania is one of the member countries of WIPO. So, it has been supporting and participating in the efforts by ensuring that it promotes understanding of intellectual property issues as well as protecting them legally," she said.

She said that in this year's celebrations, Brela invited various stakeholders as well as institutions that manage intellectual property issues in Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar, public institutions and private ones to discuss opportunities, successes and existing challenges.

Mhando said that towards the celebration, BRELA officials provided education about intellectual property in various media houses and encouraged innovators to develop and protect their innovations to benefit them personally and the nation as a whole.

"There will be a discussion about intellectual property involving the private and public sectors who together will discuss opportunities, successes and challenges they encounter and we will sign a cooperation agreement with some institutions involved in intellectual property to ensure that intellectual property becomes useful in technological and economic development," she said.