CAS is currently involved in a number of projects. Please click on the activity title to see a summary.  If you require further information please don’t hesitate to contact us by calling +39 066118356 or email cas-cgiar@cgiar.org

1. CAS @ Cambridge internship programme

1. Transactional input to the Collaboration on Insect Management in Brassicas in Asia and Africa, CIMBAA

1. The Global Public Goods II; performance indicators/measurement system

1. The CAS National Partners Initiative

1. Risk management and intellectual property

1. A survey of practice: Acquisition of Traditional Knowledge (TK) by CGIAR Scientists

1. Report on Centres’ technology transfers as benefit sharing, and Centres’ contributions to farmers’ rights for the GRPC, the Genetic Resources Policy Committee

1. Open Access initiative for the CGIAR

1. Enola Bean Case, Study

1. Marker assisted selection & IPRs

1. A System Dynamics Approach to Modelling the role of Intellectual Property Management for the development of the agricultural sector in developing countries

1. Licence Central

CAS @ Cambridge internship programme

CAS-IP in collaboration with St. Edmund’s College, Cambridge University has been running an intern programme since 2003;  CAS @ Cambridge.  The interns spend between five and eight weeks working on a project for a CGIAR Centre.  CAS works with the CG Centre to prepare the terms of reference.  Prior to arriving at the host centre, the student spends a week in Rome at CAS to prepare for their placement.  For more information on the CAS internship programme please click here. 

If you require further information please don’t hesitate to contact us by calling +39 066118356 or email cas-cgiar@cgiar.org

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Transactional Input to the Collaboration on Insect Management in Brassicas in Asia and Africa (CIMBAA)

Starting in 2007 CAS-IP is assisting The World Vegetable Centre (AVRDC) in a project called the Collaboration on Insect Management in Brassicas in Asia and Africa (CIMBAA). The CIMBAA project is a public-private partnership involving AVRDC, the Centre for Environmental Stress and Adaptation Research of the University of Melbourne, the Natural Resources Institute of the University of Greenwich, Cornell University and Nunhems B.V. This project seeks to address the serious problems caused to cabbage and cauliflower by various insect pests and in particular, the Diamondback moth, through developing sustainable solutions to farmers, consumers, seed companies and the environment.

For more information on this project, please contact Guat Hong Teh, the CAS team member working on this project.  Or alternatively, visit www.cimbaa.org/index.html.

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The Global Public Goods II; performance indicators/measurement system

CAS is currently involved in a study for the development of a performance measurement system as part of the proposal “Collective Action for the Rehabilitation of Global Public Goods in the CGIAR Genetic Resources System: Phase 2”, GPGII.  The study will be specifically directed towards looking at the GPGII tasks related to risk management, “best practice” recommendations and the performance measurement system. 
According to the original proposal the performance measurement system is to:

1. monitor adherence to best practice genebank procedures and standards,
2. review and revise genebank procedures to incorporate technological improvements and efficiencies,
3. assess collective action among the centres.

CAS will present a background paper to the wider GPGII group during 2007.

If you require further information please don’t hesitate to contact us by calling +39 066118356 or email cas-cgiar@cgiar.org

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The CAS National Partners Initiative

2007 is the first year of an exciting initiative – the CAS National Partners Initiative. Capacity and expertise in intellectual property and technology transfer management are best acquired through a combination of training, experience and communication with other professionals.  The aim of this initiative is to build capacity and to support an international community of IP practitioners from CGIAR Centres and their national partners.

We propose to fulfil this aim with a series of activities involving the CGIAR Centres and national institutions that partner with the CG Centres, where all participants learn from each other and from additional, seasoned professional practitioners.

• A first meeting of the National Partner Initiative will be held in Maccarese (Rome) 20-21 May 2007.  Participants in the meeting will be the IP Managers/Focal Points of the CGIAR Centres, staff of national partner institutions, and several IP/TT practitioners with experience at the international level. The national partners will be nominated by each of the Centres.
  
  The objective of this meeting will be for the participants to get to know one another and also to formulate individual plans of work for each national partner* and sponsoring CGIAR staff for the coming year. The work plans will be based on the premise that the IP manager/focal point from the CGIAR Centre or a CAS-IP team member, will work with the national partner the equivalent of one afternoon a month over the next year.
  
  
• Implementation of the work plans by carrying out work plan tasks, throughout the 2007-08 year.
  
  
• A second meeting will be held in the 3rd quarter of 2008, bringing the national partners and CGIAR IP managers/focal points together to report on the work done in 2007-08 and a second set of work plans will be written for 2008-09.
  
  
• Implementation of the tasks in the 2008-09 work plans.
  
  
• A third meeting of the National Partners Initiative will be held in 2009, in coordination with an international IP practice group such as the Public Interest Intellectual Property Associates (PIIPA) or the Licensing Executive Society International (LESI), in order to establish and/or associate, the National Partners Initiative as, and/or with an international professional IP society.
  
  
• Also, in 2009, a second group of national partners will be nominated for participation in the introductory program as a means for joining the international professional IP society.  The introductory program will be modelled on the example set by activities 1, 2, 3, and 4 above.

More information on this initiative will be available on this website soon.

If in the meantime you require further information please don’t hesitate to contact us by calling +39 066118356 or email cas-cgiar@cgiar.org

*Although the work plans will be individualized, based on the needs of each participant, there are certain activities that will be required in all work plans.  For example, we will ask that each national partner, prepare a contact list of in-country IP/technology transfer practitioners, from the academic community, the business community and the public research community.  It is anticipated that these individuals will then be contacted as to their interest in the possibility of becoming resource persons for the NPI and members of the professional society that is established/supported by this initiative.

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Risk management and intellectual property

Our apologies, this part of the website is currently under construction.  More content will be available shortly.

If you require further information now please don’t hesitate to contact us by calling +39 066118356 or email cas-cgiar@cgiar.org

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A survey of practice: Acquisition of Traditional Knowledge (TK) by CGIAR Scientists

CAS is undertaking a survey to compare the practices of scientists working with communities and traditional knowledge, TK, in CGIAR centres.  There is a perceived need to have some uniformity and guidance available for CG scientists who are working with indigenous communities.
The study will aim to:

1. Raise awareness about how to use research contributions from communities in an ethical and responsible manner,
2. present case studies that will identify examples of the use of TK in research,
3. explore ways to provide feedback to communities involved in research.

If you require further information please don’t hesitate to contact us by calling +39 066118356 or email cas-cgiar@cgiar.org

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Report on Centres’ technology transfers as benefit sharing, and Centres’ contributions to farmers’ rights for the GRPC, the Genetic Resources Policy Committee

The CGIAR Genetic Resource Policy Committee, GRPC, has commissioned CAS-IP to research and prepare a survey and report on technology transfer activities being carried out by the Centres of the CGIAR, particularly those that involve the use of plant genetic resources (both ITPGRFA-Annex I and non-Annex I materials), as well as the Centres’’ contributions to Farmers’ Rights as recognized in the IT.

The objectives of this report are to identify what is being done by Centres and identify the main gaps in technology transfers and farmers rights in the framework of the relevant provisions of the ITPGRFA.

If you require further information please don’t hesitate to contact us either by calling +39 066118356 or email cas-cgiar@cgiar.org

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Open Access initiative for the CGIAR

Discussions are in progress with the Information Managers Group as a part of the ICT-KM* to start an initiative on Open Access for the CGIAR.  We propose to hire a consultant to research and prepare a survey and report on the costs and benefits for the System to adopt this mode as a better mechanism for dissemination of CGIAR products particularly scientific literature. 

The aim of this report is to have a basis for the Alliance Executive to make a decision on issuing a public statement of endorsement on Open Access.  The ultimate aim of this is to have a publishing system that best promotes the CGIAR results as public good –that is to freely disseminate research outputs to all who have an interest in them.

If you require further information please don’t hesitate to contact us either by calling +39 066118356 or email cas-cgiar@cgiar.org

*The ICT-KM Program of the CGIAR promotes and supports the use of information and communications technology (ICT) and knowledge management (KM) to improve the effectiveness of the CGIAR System's work on behalf of the poor in developing countries.

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Enola Bean Case, Study

One of CAS-IP functions is to identify and analyse Centre experiences as case studies for practice notes.  The Enola Bean Case (US patent number 5,894,079 issued on April 13, 1999 to Larry Proctor for a field bean cultivar named Enola and challenged by Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical, CIAT, on 20 December 2000) constitutes a good example to illustrate the difficulties in preserving public goods in the public domain.

CAS-IP is in the progress of writing a re-examination practice note using Enola as an example, and a synopsis of the Enola Case with specifics of the process and the lessons learned.

If you require further information please don’t hesitate to contact us either by calling +39 066118356 or email cas-cgiar@cgiar.org

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Marker assisted selection & IPRs

CAS has authored a paper on MAS in IPRs. Please click here to download the chapter. Further work to deliver a database of IPRs associated in MAS technology is under consideration.

If you require further information now please don’t hesitate to contact us by calling +39 066118356 or email cas-cgiar@cgiar.org

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A System Dynamics Approach to Modelling the role of Intellectual Property Management for the development of the agricultural sector in developing countries

This is a project that is to be jointly implemented by the CAS, the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, and Flury & Giulani Consult.  The project aims to develop a system dynamics model of the agricultural sector and the seed market with the purpose of identifying:

1. the role of the private sector in the development process of the agricultural sector
2. methods and tools that would “level-the-playing-field” in the power relations between powerful actors of the international private sector and local actors that want to enter and succeed in these markets.

For more information please click here to download a brief description of the proposed project.

If in the meantime you require further information please don’t hesitate to contact us by calling +39 066118356 or email cas-cgiar@cgiar.org

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Licence Central

CAS is developing an online licence centre for CG Centres.  The website is currently under construction.  More information will be posted shortly.

If in the meantime you require further information please don’t hesitate to contact us by calling +39 066118356 or email cas-cgiar@cgiar.org

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