Winners of intellectual property competition rewarded |22 August 2020
The awardees in a souvenir photograph with guests (Photo: Thomas Meriton)
A prize giving ceremony was organised yesterday at the National History Museum to reward students who took part in the World Intellectual Property Day essay and video competition for secondary schools.
It was organised by the Seychelles Ministry of Finance, Trade, Investment and Economic Planning with the partnership of the U.S. embassy to Mauritius and Seychelles
The competition which was launched on April 26 under the theme ‘Innovate for a Green Future’ was organised in an effort to promote and raise awareness about Intellectual Property, commonly referred to as IP.
Present at the ceremony was Cillia Mangroo, the principal secretary for Trade and chairperson of the National Intellectual Property Committee; Dr Odile De Commarmond, principal secretary for Early Childhood, Primary and Secondary Education; Representatives of the US embassy, invited guests and the awardees.
“This year’s theme was ‘Innovate for a Green Future’, which emphasised on developing innovative ideas and values towards a green future. I cannot emphasise enough on the importance of IP as a fuel for our economy. IP should be instilled in our young, from a very early age; to encourage creation and innovation and to create awareness that your creativity and innovation also provides monetary rewards,” said Ms Mangroo in her opening address.
She added that in the National IP Committee, we firmly believe that IP improves livelihoods, fostering creativity, builds economic resilience and through the involvement of people of all ages, can provide novel perspectives and new ways of doing things especially during this new normal where we need to find new ways of doing business.
“This competition would not have been possible without the support of the US government who has always been a staunch supporter of IP rights. Over the years the government of Seychelles has benefitted through various US funded IP programmes, which has built capacities of institutions dealing with IP, especially in the area of enforcement. We look forward to the continued partnership and express our thanks for the sponsorship of prizes being presented for this competition,” Ms Mangroo said.
She ended her address by thanking all participants for demonstrating their enthusiasm by participating and showing how keen they are in learning about IP and how it can be used to create a greener future and we look forward to organising more programmes whereby we can move the IP agenda in Seychelles at the forefront.
The United States ambassador to Mauritius and Seychelles, David Reimer, also made a pre-recorded address during the ceremony where he noted that intellectual property has never been more important as new tools are being made in order to combat the spread of the Covid-19 virus.
Ashley Idrice was the winner of the essay competition, followed by Jassim Surman in second place and Esa Cedras third.
For the video competition which was a group effort Belonie school won the top prize. The team was made up of Jassim Surman, Jean-Michel Toule, Kylie Roberts and Naomi Laurence.
Zoe Moncherry and Kanishga Pillay were also awarded for their participation in the video competition.
Christophe Zialor