The University of Technology (UTech) has hosted a two-day capacity building Workshop entitled “Integrating Innovation as a ‘Necessary Basic’ into UTech’s Curricula: Grasping an Opportunity & Exploring Options” for staff member within the Framework of the European Union Co-financed Project “Knowledge transfer capacity building for enhanced energy access and efficiency in the Caribbean” (CAP4INNO)”

The Workshop was held on May 27 and 28, 2015. The first day was focused on “Innovation & Entrepreneurship: Making the Link for Curricular Integration at UTech” and the second day on Making UTech a More Innovative University: Focus on Intellectual Property”.

The objective of the workshop was to equip staff members with knowledge and skills to better train students on how to identify state-of-the-art technologies and evaluate them, how to transfer technologies and know-how, and how to create value that can be commercialized from research results, using the intellectual property system. Workshop Facilitators were: UTech staff members - Dr. Paul Ivey, Dr. Ruth Potopsingh, and Dr. Andrew Isaacs; and Jamaica Intellectual Property Office staff members - Ms. Lillyclaire Bellamy and Mr. Jason Wongsam.

More than 50 staff members for UTech’s various college and faculties participated in the workshop, and gave overwhelmingly positive feedback. Participants also made recommendations on how the objective to integrate innovation into UTech’s curricula could be achieved; these recommendations will be used to inform the next steps in the process.