Aleck Ncube - Fulbright Scholar from Zimbabwe

Field: Intellectual Property
Host Institution: University of New Hampshire School of Law, Formerly Franklin Pierce Law Center
Grant Dates: August 2010 to January 2011

Visiting Scholar Aleck Ncube with Prof. Stanley Kowalski

I applied for the Fulbright Visiting Scholar program after realizing that there is a lack of appreciation of intellectual property (IP) rights issues in Zimbabwe and much of Africa. My quest was to connect with a U.S. institution with an edge in intellectual property law, and the Franklin Pierce Law Center came to my mind.  When I came to the U.S. in August 2010, the Franklin Pierce Law Center was in the process of affiliating with the University of New Hampshire School of Law. During my time there, I was attached to the law school’s International Technology Transfer Institute (ITTI), where I researched technology transfer.

ITTI is dedicated to fostering innovation in developing countries. It provides knowledge, educational resources and networking resources to build sustainable capacity in intellectual property management, technology transfer and information access to essential innovations in health and agriculture, for example, vaccines for tropical and neglected diseases, pests, disease and drought-resistant crops for Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as identification of potentially valuable biodiversity. I pursued my research convinced that building knowledge economies driven by the intellectual property protection system as well as science, technology and innovation is the only sure way for African countries to alleviate poverty and grow their economies. Academic institutions have a crucial role to play in intellectual property management and technology transfer and their work with other private institutions fosters public-private partnerships that see academic research benefiting societies.

My major focus was the impact of the Bayh-Dole Act and, more specifically, its impact on university technology transfer in the USA. My aim was to learn how Zimbabwe can benefit from having a similar type of legislation. The title of my research project at ITTI was “Sustainable Science Technology and Innovation Development in Zimbabwe: Building Human Capital and Institutional Capacity in Intellectual Property Management and Technology Transfer.” The project entails the establishment—currently underway—of an Innovation Technology Entrepreneurship Center (ITEC) at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST), based in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. This will be a center of excellence in intellectual property management and technology transfer in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.

During my Fulbright grant, I joined the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), a global professional non-profit association that brings together professionals involved in technology transfer and management from across the U.S. and from other parts of the world. AUTM offered me a scholarship which enabled me to attend their annual meeting in Las Vegas in February 2011. The association has a wealth of resources which can be used to build IP capacity development and management for my university, NUST, which is formulating a Memorandum of Understanding with ITTI so that the relationship can be formalized.

Having completed my Fulbright grant, I continue to work with a team of intellectual property professionals at ITTI, led by Professor Stanley Kowalski. I remain convinced that building a knowledge-based economy is crucial in the transformation of African economies. The Fulbright experience has opened up new opportunities for me, and I am in the process of putting together a core team of professionals at Innovation Technology Entrepreneurship Center at NUST. I remain forever grateful to the Fulbright Program as well as to colleagues at the International Technology Transfer Institute for their support.