Up to $4 million available to researchers and inventors

The Development Bank of Jamaica, (DBJ) has launched a Patent Grant Fund, the first of its kind in Jamaica and the English-speaking Caribbean. 

The grant is valued at up to $4 million for each successful applicant and is being funded by the DBJ’s Boosting Innovation Growth and Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (BIGEE) programmes, a Government of Jamaica (GOJ)/Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)-funded five-year loan that is geared at building a robust and sustained early-stage entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Anthony Shaw, managing director of the DBJ, in making the announcement, stated: “The Patent Grant aims to support research and development initiatives among high potential, high growth, technology and knowledge-based Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) by providing grants that are to be used to file patent applications locally and internationally.”

The Patent Grant Fund can be used to finance the following:

• Patent application fees – To cover drafting and filing, amendments, examiner review
• Engaging an approved Patent Attorney to conduct pre-filing search; assessment; drafting and filing, amendments; and preparing other miscellaneous documents (assignments, declarations, and power of attorney).
• Provisional and non-provisional patent applications

Christopher Brown, programme manager, BIGEE, explained: “For the past couple months, we have been working with critical stakeholders such as the Jamaica Intellectual Property Office (JIPO), the Scientific Research Council and our local universities, to ensure that the Patent Grant Fund is relevant to the Jamaican environment. We have arrived at a product that is attractive, has relevance to the local market, and will significantly assist inventors and researchers to take the first step in earning from their intellectual property.”

The application process for the game-changing initiative is available online at www.thinkbigee.com and will remain open until November 25. 

Lushana Cheddesingh, technical coordinator, Direct Business, BIGEE, with direct responsibility for the design and execution of the Patent Grant Fund, is confident that the Fund will be taken up within the time specified. 

“In this first phase of the Patent Grant Fund, we want to gage the market to see what the response and uptake are,” she said.

“At the end of that process and following a detailed evaluation, we will go full force ahead and if we need to adjust and tweak the criteria we will. We listen to our clients.”