The Board of Directors of the Moroccan Office of Industrial and Commercial Property (OMPIC) held its 34th meeting, on Friday, December 23, 2022, at the headquarters of the office in Casablanca, under the chairmanship of Mr. Ryad MEZZOUR, Minister of Industry and Trade. This meeting was devoted to the presentation of the activities and results of OMPIC for the year 2022 and to the examination of its action plan and its budget for the year 2023.
During this meeting, Mr. Ryad MEZZOUR recalled the importance of industrial and commercial property and innovation in improving the competitiveness of the national economy. The Minister also underlined the role played by OMPIC in providing creators, innovators and companies with a set of tools and services allowing the protection and enhancement of creations and innovations and aimed at supporting the actors concerned in order to take advantage of the industrial and commercial property system.
In terms of application activities for industrial property titles, the balance sheet for the first 11 months of 2022 shows a resilience of activity and a positive evolution in comparison with the situation recorded before the health crisis. In terms of trademarks, the number of applications received reached 15,174 applications during this period. For industrial designs and models, 4,462 designs were filed for registration with OMPIC. Finally, new invention patent filings exceeded 2,520 applications.
Internationally, Morocco’s indicators show very positive results. Indeed, our country has gained 10 places in the Global Innovation Index (GII) of 2022. Morocco has particularly distinguished itself in the intangible assets component, with its ranking at 23th square. In particular, it is ranked: 9th according to the indicator relating to design filings by origin and GDP, 33th in the indicator relating to trademark filings by origin and GDP, and 51th for patent applications filed internationally under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) by origin and GDP.
In addition, the Board of Directors took note of the main projects carried out by the office and which revolve around the following objectives:
- Support for entrepreneurship, innovation and Research & Development;
- Strengthening territorial action, partnership and cooperation;
- The development of digitized services with high added value;
- Raising awareness and promoting industrial and commercial property;
- Improving governance and performance management systems.
The Board then adopted the 2023 action plan, established according to the OMPIC 2022-2026 development strategy, structured around 4 strategic pillars and 9 programs:
Pillar 1: Ecosystem of industrial and commercial property conducive to entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity.
Pillar 2: Efficient and Modern Services for the Protection and Valorization of Intangible Assets.
Pillar 3: OMPIC, Proactive and Efficient Organization.
Pillar 4: Digital Transformation of OMPIC.
Source: Official press release
