This regional workshop organised from 10 to 14 October 2022 in Lomé provides an opportunity to review the progress of the 14 projects launched with a view to valorising the results of research and innovation in Togo, Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Benin.
During this regional workshop, the fourteen third-party projects financed by VaRRIWA in the four beneficiary countries are gathered to assess together the progress made and to plan future actions, in particular the popularisation of the VaRRIWA regional digital platform and the dissemination of mapping studies carried out on innovation actors.
The 14 ongoing projects contribute to the training of researchers and innovators on the themes of valorisation and protection of research and innovation results, to the setting up of sustainable support mechanisms for this valorisation (in particular through the creation of new patents and companies/start-ups /service providers generating direct employment); and to the reinforcement of the links between research and innovation actors – through private-private and public-private partnerships developed at national and regional level
The Minister of Higher Education and Research of Togo, Professor Majesty Ihou WATEBA, recalled the importance of research that produces results, during the official launch organised on 12 October. Researchers must think about the concrete implementation of the fruit of their research, “by being researchers who find”, to address the great challenges of the 21st century such as climate change or pandemics.
(Professor Majesty Ihou WATEBA)
Also present at this official launch, Mr. Sergio Marinelli, Head of the political section at the Delegation of the European Union (EU) in Togo, and Mrs. Laure Dutaur, technical assistant of the OACPS Research and Innovation Programme, expressed their conviction that the various beneficiary countries of Varriwa will take over after the 4 years of the project’s implementation, given its relevance.
(Mr. Sergio Marinelli)
The VaRRIWA project is led by the Agence universitaire de la Francophonie, in partnership with the Agence Béninoise de Valorisation des résultats de la recherche et de l’innovation Technologique (ABeVRIT), the Agence nationale de Valorisation des Résultats de la Recherche et des Innovations du Burkina Faso (ANVAR), the Agence Nationale pour la Recherche Scientifique Appliquée du Sénégal (ANRSA), and the Direction de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique du Togo (DRST).
VaRRIWA is one of 12 projects supported by the ACP Innovation Fund, one of the main pillars of the OACPS R&I Programme.
Press coverage:
Journal 20h TVT du 12 oct 2022 -Cérémonie de lancement de l’atelier régional de VaRRIWA au Togo : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2gOxXy0_Uc