“Patents are priceless assets,” says Scottish inventor Tanya Ewing

“Even before I had the US patent,” she told an enthusiastic South African audience, “my company had been valued at several million pounds, with us having generated very few sales at that stage. That valuation was based solely on the strength of the company’s intellectual property rights, including its European patent, trade mark and registered design.”

The important message for the innovator based in Perth, Scotland, came from patent attorneys Murgitroyd & Company, who are also headquartered in Scotland.

And the other piece of good news in Johannesburg for Tanya Ewing was that she had a positive meeting with a major South African distributor of energy-efficient electrical equipment that is keen to trial her energy-monitoring device, Ewgeco, with a view to supplying it to customers throughout the country.

Global Women Inventors and Innovators Network

Ewing and other representatives of the London-based Global Women Inventors & Innovators Network found themselves surrounded at the two-day event by leading international figures, including Mr Thabo Mbeki, then President of the Republic of South Africa, and Deputy President Ms Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka who both attended the South African Women Inventors & Innovators Symposium.

Many of the country’s female ministers and about 1,500 women entrepreneurs, inventors and innovators from Africa, Europe and South-East Asia packed the Gallagher Conference Centre to take part in the launch of the Pan-African Women Inventors & Innovators Network and to honour many of those who have made the greatest contribution to encouraging women to play a full role in the continent’s economic and social development.

Even before I had the US patent […] my company had been valued at several million pounds, with us having generated very few sales at that stage. That valuation was based solely on the strength of the company’s intellectual property rights, including its European patent, trade mark and registered design.

Tanya Ewing

British Female Inventor of the Year

South African government minister Ms Buyelwa Sonjica welcomed delegates to the symposium and explained how much had been done to include women in the country’s government under the presidency of Thabo Mbeki.

Bola Olabisi is the London-based founder and president of the Global Women Inventors & Innovators Network (GWIIN). She reinforced this message and presented Mr Mbeki with an award in recognition of his commitment to encouraging women to play a greater part in innovating and finding new approaches to economic and social development.

The two-day event was a joint initiative between the South African government and the GWIIN, the UK-based organisation behind the well-established British Female Inventor & Innovator of the Year Awards. The theme of the launch event was “boosting sustainability through innovation”.

According to founder/president Mrs Olabisi, the event has achieved all its objectives of highlighting the actual and potential contribution of women to social and economic development throughout Africa.

“We know from GWIIN’s activities in the UK and Europe that by encouraging and giving recognition to innovative women, they gain the confidence to start up or develop enterprises that can help solve many problems, especially in areas such as healthcare, energy efficiency, education, agriculture and diet,” she said.