JEDCO launches grants to enhance Intellectual Property Rights

AMMAN — The Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation (JEDCO) on Monday announced grants worth 60,000 euros as part of the EU-funded project “Intellectual Properties Capacities for Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth in the Mediterranean Region” (IPMED).

The grants aim to support start-ups and creative entrepreneurship among women and youth in Jordan’s Irbid Governorate, according to a statement from JEDCO.

The project, lead by JEDCO, is conducted in partnership with similar organisations in Greece, Italy and Tunisia. An additional 10,000 euros will be awarded to the top six applicants in Tunisia through the Tunisian project partner, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Tunisia.

The applications will be evaluated by an internal specialised evaluation committee and will then be presented to an international committee composed of members from the project partner countries.

These grants target small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) operating in the energy, environment, ICT, biotechnology, agri-food and creative industries sectors.

These grants will enable the MSMEs to get involved in technology transfer, collaborative research and innovation activities at the local and regional levels, thereby increasing the effectiveness of these companies, creating new jobs and improving the standard of living.

JEDCO CEO Abdel Fattah Al Kayed stressed the importance of intellectual property protections in the Euro-Mediterranean region, as essential to achieving smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.

Intellectual property rights (IPR) encourage entrepreneurs to be creative by protecting their ideas, as the EU-funded IPMED programme aims to access the intellectual property rights of 1,000 women and young people in the Mediterranean region, in order to encourage creativity and innovation and improve economic growth, he added.

The “Intellectual Properties Capacities for Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth in the Mediterranean Region” (IPMED) project aims to build mechanisms of intellectual property rights for start-ups, SMEs and entrepreneurial projects.

It also helps young entrepreneurs by increasing their awareness of the principles of intellectual property rights through a total of 1.194 million euros from the Cross-Border Cooperation Programme for the Mediterranean Basin within the European Neighborhood Instrument (ENI CBCMED), the statement said.