Verified patent intelligence for African manufacturers, investors, and institutions — showing which technologies are already legally free to use.
When a patent expires, the underlying manufacturing technology enters the public domain. Any company, anywhere, can then use it without permission or payment. Africa imported US$542.00 billion in manufactured goods in 2023 — a significant share of it using technology that is already free. DTO finds, verifies, and maps those technologies for you.
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The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has created a single market covering all 54 African Union member states with a combined population of approximately 1.40 billion people. When a patent reaches the end of its 20-year legal term, the technology enters the public domain — meaning any company, anywhere, can use it without paying the original inventor. Most African businesses are unaware of how many technologies this applies to.
We do the patent research so your team does not have to. Every entry in the DTO library has been verified against public patent databases before it is published.
The Diaspora Technology Observatory is an independent research platform led by a UK-based Nigerian researcher. It maps industrial technologies whose patents have expired or are otherwise freely accessible — and makes that information available to African businesses, institutions, and governments.
Browse our verified sector reports — or request a free 48-hour consultation. We will identify which technologies in your sector are already freely available and legally accessible at zero cost.
Verified expired and accessible industrial patents for African manufacturers — curated by the Diaspora Technology Observatory. All entries verified against WIPO, USPTO, Espacenet, and Medicines Patent Pool databases as of May 2026. Applicable across AfCFTA member states unless otherwise noted.
Verified public domain technology intelligence for African manufacturers, investors, and institutions. Instant download after purchase. The patent library remains free for everyone.
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Tell us about your organisation, country, and sector. Uzoma Charles Njoku will respond within 48 hours with a tailored consultation identifying which public domain technologies are relevant to your specific situation.
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The Diaspora Technology Observatory ("DTO", "we", "us", "our") is an independent research platform operated by Uzoma Charles Njoku, based in the United Kingdom. We publish downloadable PDF intelligence reports and a free patent library identifying industrial technologies available to African businesses at zero licensing cost.
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The underlying technologies described in our reports — expired patents and public domain manufacturing processes — are not the intellectual property of DTO. Those technologies are, by definition, freely available to anyone. Our intellectual property is the research, compilation, analysis, and presentation of that information.
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