Sasol Foundation Partners With NWU Business School To Celebrate Women In Intellectual Property
Sasol Foundation Partners With NWU Business School To Celebrate Women In Intellectual Property. Innovators and intellectual property professionals gathered in Sandton to celebrate women innovators as theme for this year’s World Intellectual Property Day. The function, which was a collaborative effort between Sasol, the North-West University Business School and the NWU Technology Transfer and Innovation Support Office, were hosted at the plush corporate head office of Sasol.
In her opening address, Dr Janine Chantson, Chief Director of Technology Transfer and Innovation Support at NWU, highlighted the significance of World IP Day and the importance of intellectual property in promoting innovation and creativity. She pointed out that gender exclusion in innovation and associated intellectual property robs the economy and society of significant creative and problem-solving capacity. This message was strongly supported by Ms Claire Duggan, Sasol IP Legal Advisor, who confirmed Sasol’s commitment to promoting gender equality and supporting women in innovation and its intellectual property throughout the organisation.
In a panel discussion, moderated by Professor Leenta Grobler of the NWU Business School, two prominent women in the innovation and IP industry elaborated on their career experiences and on the value women bring to these fields. They included Ms Ursula Baravalle, Patent Attorney and Director at KISCH IP; Ms Charlene Abrey, Executive Technology and Innovation at OPENSERVE; and Dr Nontombi Marule, Director: Innovation and Technology at the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition. “We need to actively involve and encourage women throughout the innovation value chain,” explained Ms Baravalle, “and those of us with senior positions in these fields need to make ourselves available as role models and mentors.”
Dr Marule reinforced this appeal: “We need to inspire girls as young as fifteen, in high school, where we often decide to drop out in maths and science. Very often, these hard sciences form the bedrock of innovation and invention. We need young girls to understand and believe that they can pursue careers in STEM fields, they can become scientists, engineers, astronauts… whatever they can dream, they can be.” The event culminated in the launch of the Sasol Foundation Alumni Platform and the 2023 innovateHER Youth Innovation Competition by Ms Noxolo Kahlana, Head of the Sasol Foundation and Prof Leenta Grobler, respectively.
innovateHER is a 12-week online course in innovation, problem solving and product development, curated and presented by the NWU Business School, with the aim of specifically encouraging females between the age of 15 and 25 to pursue careers in STEM fields. “We are thrilled to have hosted such a successful event, and to have celebrated the contributions of women in intellectual property,” said Dr Joseph Sekhampu, Chief Director of the NWU Business School. “We hope that this event will inspire more women to pursue careers in innovation and intellectual property in South Africa.”
