Proposal for new Bahraini inventors’ support centre

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

A plan to set up a new centre for inventors, offering funding, legal cover and help with turning clever ideas into working businesses, will go before Parliament today.

The proposal calls on the government to create a dedicated place for Bahraini inventors, where they could get support to develop, fund and protect their work.

Backers of the plan say the move would help home-grown talent turn practical ideas into viable ventures and add to the economy.

Under the scheme, the centre would give guidance to inventors trying to take their first steps, including help with planning, building models and pitching to backers.

Training courses

It would also run training courses to sharpen skills in research and design, and work closely with universities and colleges to put student projects into practice.

One of the key suggestions is a fund for inventors, to be paid for by businesses and other interested groups.

The money would go towards helping inventors cover costs for materials, trials and early-stage work.

The proposal also puts weight on the need for legal cover.

Protection

This would include help with patents and ownership rights, aimed at stopping theft of ideas and giving inventors proper protection.

Each project would be looked at through a short study to judge whether the idea has a chance of working in practice, and what it might bring to the economy.

Finally, the proposal calls for efforts to raise the profile of these inventions outside Bahrain, with the aim of finding backers abroad and opening doors for local inventors in other markets.