Cultural icon Luise Bennett-Coverley and esteemed local artist Alphanso Blake headlined an exhibition staged recently at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva, Switzerland.

Dubbed ‘Jamaica at 60: Innovation and Cultural Creativity’, the exhibition was a Jamaica 60 initiative of the Jamaican Embassy and Permanent Mission to the United Nations (PRUN) Geneva, in collaboration with the Jamaica Intellectual Property Office (JIPO), an agency of the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce.

It was held from July 14 – 22 on the margins of the 63rd Series of Meetings of the Assemblies of WIPO Member States.

The exhibition highlighted copyright, geographical indication and traditional knowledge, using photos of national symbols and historic sites; videos of Jonkonnu and traditional dances; spoken word presentations; as well as condiments from the Pickapeppa Company Limited, which is celebrating more than 100 years’ protection as a trade secret.

Lilyclaire Bellamy, executive director of JIPO and chair of WIPO’s Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore, said the goal of the exhibition was to showcase a slice of Jamaica’s cultural legacy and heighten awareness among WIPO Member States of the diversity of creative works that can be classified as intellectual property.

“Those who viewed the exhibition were amazed at the contributions that Jamaica has made globally in intellectual property, given the size of our population,” Bellamy observed.

She noted that Jamaica continues to play a highly visible role on the international stage in engagements regarding the intellectual property rights regime.

“There is immense intrinsic value in the intellectual property of our creatives, and the JIPO message to Jamaicans continues to be a call to register their intellectual property so that they alone can mine the rewards of their hard work,” Bellamy said.