DEVELOPMENT-ARGENTINA: Inventors from South Seek Support

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Sep 11 2000 (IPS) - Inventors and delegates from the patent offices of more than 50 countries met this month in the Argentine capital to discuss how the former can obtain backing, especially in developing countries, where they often come up with inexpensive, efficient devices, but without government support.

Inventors are people whose restless minds propel them to create one thing after another, in solitude and in their free time, without the backing of foundations or laboratories, despite the fact that inventions have frequently marked watersheds in the history of technology.

“This is the first time one of these meetings is held below the equator,” Diego Lerner, vice-president of the Argentine Association of Inventors, told IPS.

The Sep 4-8 meeting in Buenos Aires was sponsored by the International Federation of Inventors’ Associations and the World Intellectual Property Organisation.

Representatives from the United States, Canada, Finland, Norway and Sweden explained how their patent offices receive applications from inventors, evaluate the potential profitability of the projects, and support the creation of a new product or device, hopefully recovering their investment through direct taxes.

But in poor countries, inventors not only do not receive support for developing their creations, but often run into all kinds of bureaucratic obstacles, including the cost of a patent, which was raised from 100 to 1,700 dollars this year in Argentina, for example.

Although the gathering did not include a fair for the inventors to showcase their creativity, some of the participants discussed their inventions. One man from Bolivia developed a low-cost portable fibre-glass toilet, and in his briefcase carried five prototypes of contraptions for hospital use.

“One of the characteristics of inventors is that we are involved in different areas,” and develop implements for a range of sectors, said Lerner.

If something falls into the hands of an inventor, they look for a way to improve it; if they see a device in a movie, they try to create it. “We are nonconformists. We believe everything can be improved, and rather than criticise, we act,” he added.

With great imagination and scarce resources, inventors in poor countries come up with products that frequently turn out to be not only useful but inexpensive and green-friendly. Nevertheless, their work continues to be seen as a picturesque and even slightly loony activity.

Eduardo Turozzi developed a compressor that does not need oil, and thus offers environmentally-sound and higher quality results at a lower cost. The device is used in cars, water pumps and hospitals.

Although Lerner works in the construction industry, not all of his inventions have been in that area. One of his products, about to come out on the market, is a natural decanter that filters water and makes annual cleaning of water tanks unnecessary.

“I’m not optimistic, but I think it’ll do ok,” he said.

The vice-president of the Argentine Association of Inventors, José Fandi, is considered a leader in the field, after inventing, in 1956, what is now an essential household cleaning device in the region: a large squeegee or blade of rubber set on a broomstick that is used for wiping up water on the floor.

Although women are a minority in the field, there are very talented female inventors, said Lerner. One of them, Mirta Fassi, came up with a brick that uses plastic bottles, thus giving an industrial use to non-returnable empties.

A representative from Lesotho said he had created a motor- powered plough based on the bicycle, which in his southern African country has provided an alternative to the ox in the countryside at a time when land for raising oxen is scarce.