Agro-industrialisation
Geographical indications, trademarks, plant-variety and utility-model protection
Rwenzori Arabica GI · Ankole ghee brand
Protecting what Uganda creates.Financing what has value.
Uganda has the ideas and the institutions. This platform connects IP protection to commercialisation, finances what has market value, and measures the result.
- Free to apply
- One submission, five agencies
- Pro bono legal support
73
Innovations in the national baseline
46
IP filings supported
12
Vouchers & grants disbursed
186
Innovators trained
WIPO Global Innovation Index 2025
Uganda ranks 124 of 139, down from 89th in 2013.
124
One national programme, delivered by the institutions that hold the mandates
Lead & convening chair
Co-chairs & digital infrastructure
Financing, legal & convening
Why this platform exists
Uganda registers brands, but rarely protects inventions
Ideas are generated but not owned, software is built but not licensed, and research is funded but not commercialised. There is no official count of how many Ugandan innovations are unprotected. That baseline is the first thing this platform builds.
2,121
local trademark applications
URSB, FY2023/24
27
patent applications filed
URSB, FY2023/24
121st
on innovation outputs
WIPO GII 2025
Services
What do you need today?
MoICT Call for InnovationsSubmit to the national innovation baseline
Profile your innovation once. Five agencies assess it against a common framework and recommend a protection pathway.
Get started
Up to UGX 3M voucherRequest an IP-audit voucher
Find out what you own, what is exposed and what needs protecting before you pitch to investors or public clients.
Get started
URSB TISC networkBook a prior-art search
Patentability and freedom-to-operate searches through about 40 TISC host institutions across Uganda.
Get started
CIO Women's CircleWomen-in-Tech IP desk
Hands-on help to use the registration and search platforms that are already open to you, from first search to filing.
Get started
Your journey
From an idea to a protected, financed asset, in four steps
Step 1
Submit
Add your innovation to the national baseline.
Step 2
Audit & classify
URSB, UNCST, STI-OP, UIRI and H&G score it and assign a priority tier.
Step 3
Protect
Tier 1 innovations go straight to URSB filing, with fees covered.
Step 4
Commercialise
Licensing, UIRI incubation, TTO matching and UDB financing.
NDP IV growth areas (ATMS)
A pathway for every sector
A coffee cooperative needs different support from a fintech startup. The programme sets its instruments sector by sector.
Tourism
Destination brands, copyright for digital tourism, traditional cultural expressions
Virtual gorilla treks · heritage audio guides
Minerals, Oil & Gas
Patents, industrial designs and licensing that build local content
Mercury-free gold recovery · pipeline inspection
Science, Technology & Innovation
Copyright, patents and trade secrets for software, fintech, healthtech and creative content
School-fees wallets · Luganda speech-to-text
Uganda IP Protection & Commercialisation Fund
Funding opportunities
Targeted support for protected, commercialisable knowledge assets. The Pilot tranche is UGX 5 billion, with Uganda Development Bank as domestic DFI anchor.
OpenGrant
IP filing support
Covers trademark, copyright, patent, utility-model and industrial-design filing costs for eligible innovators identified through the quantification exercise.
- Max award
- UGX 5M
- Window budget
- UGX 900M
1% committed · rolling applications
OpenVoucher
IP-audit vouchers
Helps startups and technology firms assess what they own, what is exposed and what needs protection.
- Max award
- UGX 3M
- Window budget
- UGX 500M
1% committed · rolling applications
OpenVoucher
Patent & technology search
Supports prior-art searches, patentability assessments and freedom-to-operate analysis through URSB TISCs.
- Max award
- UGX 2M
- Window budget
- UGX 300M
5% committed · rolling applications
OpenGrant
University technology transfer
Supports TISCs, UIRI incubation and research institutions to convert research outputs into protected, investable assets.
- Max award
- UGX 40M
- Window budget
- UGX 1.20bn
0% committed · rolling applications
OpenVoucher
Women-in-Technology IP window
Funds outreach, guidance and hands-on support so women-led technology enterprises use the registration and search platforms already available, through the CIO Women's Circle.
- Max award
- UGX 5M
- Window budget
- UGX 400M
6% committed · rolling applications
OpenGrant
Creative & digital content
Supports software, digital media, animation, music-tech and creative-economy actors to protect and commercialise copyright assets.
- Max award
- UGX 10M
- Window budget
- UGX 500M
8% committed · rolling applications
OpenQuasi-equity / co-investment
Commercialisation & licensing
Supports licensing negotiations, model agreements, valuation and investor readiness. UDB co-financing for investment-ready firms.
- Max award
- UGX 50M
- Window budget
- UGX 900M
13% committed · rolling applications
OpenGrant
Standards & certification
Supports product certification and export readiness where IP-backed products target regional markets.
- Max award
- UGX 20M
- Window budget
- UGX 300M
4% committed · rolling applications
Resource centre
Know what you own
Model agreementsFounder vesting, software-ownership clauses, NDAs and university licences from H&G Advocates.URSB & ARIPO filing guidesTrademarks, copyright, patents, and regional filing under the Harare and Banjul Protocols.Business registration is not IP protectionA one-page checklist of what your company may not yet own.
IP clinics
Learn from the people who file
Breakfast sessions at the URSB Auditorium, plus quarterly virtual clinics for regional and diaspora innovators.
- 27OctIntroduction to IP for founders Tue 27 Oct, 07:00 · URSB Auditorium, Kampala
- 4NovCopyright for software and creative works Wed 4 Nov, 14:00 · Virtual (Zoom)
- 11NovTrademarks and brand protection Wed 11 Nov, 07:00 · URSB Auditorium, Kampala
- 18NovWomen's Circle: using URSB online filing Wed 18 Nov, 07:00 · URSB Auditorium, Kampala
The first step is finding out what is unprotected.
Add your innovation to the national baseline. It takes about ten minutes, and the review panel will recommend your protection pathway.