10. Impact on business
The improvement of IP administration and enforcement together with the specific measures laid out in this
Policy and Law will be beneficial to business in their promotion of greater science, technology and protection of
the output of creative industries.
The extent of the positive impact on businesses will depend on how widespread and effective dissemination
strategies for encouraging the use of IP systems become. This will particularly be the case with the promotion
of utility models for domestic innovation, as well as improvements in the ability of firms to access international
technologies. The combination of these two factors could lead to significant
11. Impact on equality, unity and reconciliation
The majority of firms in Rwanda are micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). These firms provide the
bulk of employment as well as economic opportunities and growth. Rwandans employed in these firms will be
as well off as the firms in question – the more productive firms become, the higher the wages they will be able
to afford. Higher wages in turn can be expected to have a broadly egalitarian impact for Rwandan society.
For this to be the case, the areas of the Policy relating to the wider use of utility models for encoding and
encouraging innovation by MSMEs must be implemented efficiently and effectively. With time this use should
see the greater productivity improvements that will feed in to the improved conditions for the Rwandan
workforce.
12. Handling plan (communication plan)
This IP Policy together with the IP Law should be widely disseminated following the creation of the Rwanda
Development and Intellectual Property Forum (RDIPF). The RDIPF will be the first stage in implementing the
policy. The next steps developed in the implementation framework in Annex B, will require significant multistakeholder collaboration and consultation. They include improving financial and technical support to IP
administration (RDB) as well as enforcement (Customs, police, courts), as well as dissemination of an IP
culture more broadly to the Rwandan business community. Furthermore, upon joining the Regional and
International Organizations / Treaties and Agreements, further stakeholder engagement should be established to
widen public knowledge of the improved system that will result.
Dissemination of this policy will therefore take some time and involve a number of institutions. But as stated
above, this should start with the creation of the RDIPF and move on from there.
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