In a formal ceremony held at the Santo Domingo campus of the Higher Technical Community Institute (Instituto Técnico Superior Comunitario, ITSC), two leading Dominican institutions have launched a new collaborative effort to embed intellectual property and copyright education across academic communities. The inter-institutional cooperation agreement, signed by ITSC rector José Ramón Holguín Brito and National Copyright Office (Oficina Nacional de Derecho de Autor, ONDA) director general José Rubén Gonell Cosme, marks a coordinated push to build literacy around intellectual property protection among students, teaching staff and institutional employees.
Beyond a symbolic signing, the agreement lays out a concrete roadmap for joint action over the coming years. The two institutions will partner to deliver a full slate of public educational programming, including industry conferences, hands-on skills workshops, academic seminars and national awareness campaigns. All initiatives will center on three core themes: upholding copyright protections, nurturing creative output, and fostering a culture of innovation across Dominican society. Additional pillars of the partnership include cross-institutional knowledge sharing, co-development of impact-driven projects, and coordinated outreach to promote the responsible, legal use of copyrighted and intellectual assets across all sectors.
Speaking at the event, Rector Holguín Brito framed the partnership as a critical step to align Dominican higher technical education with the evolving needs of the national economy. He emphasized that creativity and innovation are not abstract academic values, but core drivers of sustainable national development, and that integrating intellectual property training into technical education will better prepare graduates to contribute to that growth. For his part, ONDA director Gonell Cosme noted that early, accessible education is the most effective tool to build long-term respect for creators’ rights. This initiative, he explained, will introduce copyright concepts to young Dominicans early in their academic careers, laying the groundwork for a more ethical and innovative creative economy.
The signing ceremony concluded with an inaugural academic conference titled “Copyright, Creativity and Innovation,” delivered by Wilkins Santana Abreu, the official leading ONDA’s academic coordination and planning division. The opening talk set the tone for the partnership’s upcoming programming, highlighting the interconnected relationship between strong copyright frameworks, increased creative output, and broad-based innovation across national economies.