The continents of Europe, Asia, and the Americas are widely recognized as sources of innovation, but Africa is less known for its R&D efforts. Yet, despite certain economic challenges, Africa is beginning to take its place on the world stage for invention. Recent patenting activity can identify the seeds of such nascent creativity.
Patent protection in Africa can be obtained through national phase filings of Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications, direct filings in countries with patent offices, or a regional system. The Organisation Africaine de la Propriete Intellectuelle (OAPI) and the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) are the two African regional intellectual property systems. Most patent applications filed in African countries are national phase filings of priority applications for subject matter invented outside Africa. Even so, a burgeoning level of inventive activity occurs within Africa when viewed through the lens of resident inventor patent application filings.
A focus on the intellectual property of one particular African country illustrates this point. Morocco's resident inventor application filings exemplify home-grown pharmaceutical and medical innovations in Africa. OMPIC (the Moroccan Office of Industrial and Commercial Property) is Morocco's patent institution. In the past, Moroccan patent applications were not substantively examined by OMPIC but only reviewed for compliance with formalities. The pre-2014 Moroccan patent system thus resembled the current depository system for patents in South Africa. However, in 2014, Morocco implemented new laws to establish substantive examination. The change in the law increased the quality of issued Moroccan patents, which incentivizes innovation.
This change has spurred economic development and patenting activity, which differentiates the Moroccan patent system from that of some other African countries. For example, although South Africa has the highest total volume of patent applications of all African countries, the considerable number of application filings in South Africa may be less indicative of robust home country-originated inventive activity and more demonstrative of the relative ease of obtaining a patent.
Trends in health-related innovation can be identified by analyzing the information on resident inventors' patenting activity, which is available to the public through both published applications and granted patents. Publication of Moroccan applications lags filing by 18 months, and the average length of examination is 23 months. As a result, there is a relatively brief period between publication and grant for patentable inventions. According to statistics compiled by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for 2023, approximately 11% of all applications filed in Morocco in that year were filed by resident inventors.
The WIPO statistics for 2023 also show that 54% of all PCT patent applications filed in Morocco were assigned to universities. Universities are, therefore, a vital source of home-grown Moroccan innovation, as revealed by patent application filing statistics.
The University Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah in Fez, one of Morocco's top higher education institutions, is among the most prolific patent application filers in the pharmaceutical and medical fields. One USMBA professor, Dr. Adnane Remmal, has been widely recognized for his achievements in identifying ways to boost the efficacy of antibiotics with essential oils to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria. He is a recipient of both the Innovation Prize for Africa from the African Innovation Foundation and the EPO's European Inventor Award Popular Prize for his groundbreaking work.
In addition to universities, nonprofit associations are also active in fostering innovation in health-related fields. For example, the Moroccan Foundation for Advanced Science, Innovation, and Research (MASciR, associated with Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Rabat) provides research support that has already borne fruit in Morocco, bringing about startups. One is Moldiag, a company that produces diagnostic test kits for leukemia, hepatitis C, breast cancer, mpox, COVID-19, and tuberculosis.
The Moroccan government also supports innovation by encouraging the concept of "Innovation Cities," where the government works together with universities and businesses to encourage R&D, tech transfer, and entrepreneurship. Innovation City projects have already been launched in several cities, including Oujda, Agadir, Rabat, and Fez.
A review of published patent applications and granted patents filed by resident inventors in Morocco for 2020 to 2025 reveals inventions for a wide variety of subject matter in the healthcare field. In the pharma space, a research forté for Moroccan inventors is to leverage plant-derived compounds to develop medicines. For instance, several applications have been filed for extraction and isolation techniques to obtain pharmaceutically active ingredients from natural sources such as native plants and algae. Patent applications have also been filed, and claims have been granted, for pharmaceutical uses of naturally derived active ingredients as drugs to treat cancer, inflammation, diabetes, anxiety, infection, depression, hypertension, and dental decay, among others.
Notably, the time period reviewed for resident inventor patenting activity encompasses the years of the COVID-19 pandemic. The patent literature confirms that Moroccan inventors joined the efforts of researchers worldwide to create life-saving devices and treatments for the virus. Scientific discoveries, including SARS-CoV-2 detection kits, artificial respirators, intelligent masks for automatic remote detection of COVID-19, nasal filters, ozone-based electronic systems for disinfection, and medicinal plant-based drugs, all originated in Morocco, according to the patent literature.
According to patent filings, a wide variety of Moroccan-originated inventions can also be found in the medical device space. A sampling of the work of Moroccan inventors includes a device for launching a needle into an injection site, a vibrating alert system for incorporation into a plaster foot cast, a robo-doctor, a diagnostic syringe equipped with a PCR quantitative assay, a device for measurement of skin elasticity, a femoral implant, an intelligent UV-C system for virus and bacteria detection and disinfection, and an intelligent osteo-integrated orthopedic implant system.
Digital health inventions are also represented among the Moroccan patents and resident inventors' applications from 2020 to 2025. They include a blockchain-based method and system for personal data protection in a smart health context, granted in 2024, and applications for software supporting medical device hospital sterilization processes. Oncology consultation meeting management methods have also been patented.
Although patent filings in Africa currently represent less than 1% of all applications filed worldwide, inventive activity on the continent is highly likely to accelerate in future years. Moroccan patenting provides a compelling case study of the African continent's research status. The measures taken by Morocco to stimulate research through changes in patent law to produce higher quality patents, as well as the work of universities, foundations, and Innovation Cities, are already producing results. The accolades for scientists, successful startups, and resident patenting activity in Morocco all validate the expectation for Africa to become a future innovation powerhouse.
Originally published by R&D World
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
