Young Innovators Take Centre Stage as URSB and WIPO Launch School Innovation Challenge

The Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB), working together with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), has launched an initiative aimed at inspiring young learners to become problem-solvers and innovators capable of creating solutions for the future.The programme is being implemented under the WIPO K-12 Project, “Empowering Youth to Innovate for a Better Future,” which is designed to help young people discover the power of creativity, innovation and ideas from an early age.

The first round of the coaching and innovation challenge is taking place at The Olive School – Namugongo, where learners are being given an opportunity to develop their ideas and explore how they can respond to challenges affecting their communities.Rather than limiting innovation to laboratories and established businesses, the programme is bringing the concept into the school environment, encouraging learners to look at everyday problems differently and think about practical ways of solving them.Through coaching sessions, the young participants are being guided on how to identify a problem, develop an innovative idea, improve their proposed solution and communicate it effectively to others.

The initiative is also creating awareness about intellectual property, helping learners understand that their original ideas and creative work can have value and should be recognised and protected as they develop.URSB and WIPO believe that exposing young people to innovation at an early stage can help nurture a generation that is more confident in creating solutions instead of simply waiting for solutions to existing challenges.

The coaching and innovation challenge at The Olive School – Namugongo therefore marks an important opportunity for young learners to put their creativity into action, with the programme carrying a simple message: big solutions can begin with young minds and a single idea.