Isaac Rutenberg is Associate Professor of ICT Policy and Innovation at Strathmore University. He founded the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law (CIPIT) at Strathmore Law School in 2012, and served as its Director until 2022. He is also an Associate Member at the Center for Law, Technology, and Society at the University of Ottawa.
Prof. Rutenberg’s research centers on innovation ecosystems and their ability to serve innovators, particularly in Africa. He is widely published on law, policy, and practice as they pertain to intellectual property, Artificial Intelligence, climate change, and agriculture.
Prof. Rutenberg received dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Chemistry and Mathematics/Computer Science from the Colorado School of Mines, a PhD in Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology, and a JD (law degree) from Santa Clara University. His PhD advisor, Prof. Robert H. Grubbs, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2005, the same year Dr. Rutenberg finished his degree.
AUTHORED and EDITED BOOKS
  • Artificial Intelligence and the Law in Africa (Caroline Ncube, Desmond Oriakhogba, Isaac Rutenberg, & Tobias Schonwetter, eds., 2023). 
  • Isaac Rutenberg, Cyber Law in Kenya, in International Encyclopaedia of Laws: Cyber Law, (2nd ed. 2019). 
  • Isaac Rutenberg, Marisella Ouma, & Peter Munyi, Intellectual Property Law in Kenya, in International Encyclopaedia of Laws: Intellectual Property, (2019).
BOOK CHAPTERS
  • Isaac Rutenberg, Utility Models in Kenya, in Sub-Patent Innovation Rights: Utility Models, Petty Patents and Innovation Patents Around the World (expected 2024).
  • Isaac Rutenberg, Arthur Gwagwa, Melissa Omino, Use and Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Climate Change Adaptation in Africa, in African Handbook of Climate Change Adaptation (2021).
  • Caroline Ncube & Isaac Rutenberg, Intellectual Property and 4IR Technologies, in South Africa’s Fourth Industrial Future (2020).
  • Jeremy De Beer, Chris Armstrong, S. Elahi, Dick Kawooya, Erika Kramer-Mbula, Caroline Ncube, C., Chidi Oguamanam, Nagla Rizk, Isaac Rutenberg, & Tobias Schonwetter, Open Innovation in Africa: Current Realities, Future Scenarios, and Scalable Solutions, in Making Open Development Inclusive (2020). 
U.S. JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS
  • Douglas Gichuki, Arthur Gwagwa, Isaac Rutenberg, Historical antecedents and paradoxes that shaped Kenya’s contemporary Information and Communication Technology policies, 12 Harv. Afr. Pol’y J., 61-75 (2017).
  • Jeremy De Beer, Paula Millar, Jacqueline Mwangi, Victor Nzomo, & Isaac Rutenberg, A Framework for Assessing Technology Hubs in Africa, 6 NYU J. Intell. Prop. & Ent. L. 237 (2016-2017). 

PEER REVIEWED LAW JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS
  • Alvin Igobwa, Jeremy Gachanja, Betsy Muriithi, John Olukuru, Angeline Wairegi, & Isaac Rutenberg, A canary, a coal mine, and imperfect data: determining the efficacy of open-source climate change models in detecting and predicting extreme weather events in Northern and Western Kenya, 174:24 Climate Change 1-24 (2022).
  • Isaac Rutenberg, A critical analysis of intellectual property in the Kenyan tea sector, 16 J. of Intell. Prop. L. & Prac. 226-235 (2021).
  • Angeline Wairegi, Melissa Omino, Isaac Rutenberg, AI in Africa: Framing AI through an African Lens, 10 Comm. Tech. et Developpement (2021). (Paper presented at the ComTecDev Conference, Online, 2021.)
  • Abdul Sugow, Margaret Zalo, & Isaac Rutenberg, Appraising the Impact of Kenyan Cyber Harassment Law on the Freedom of Expression, 1 J. Intell. Prop. and Info. Tech. L. 91-114 (2021).
  • Isaac Rutenberg, Stephen Kiptinness, Abdul Sugow, Admission of Electronic Evidence: Contradictions in the Kenyan Evidence Act, 18 Digital Evid. & Electronic Sig. L. Rev., 35-49 (2021).
  • Isaac Rutenberg, Abdul Sugow, Regulation of the Social Media in Electoral Democracies: A Case of Kenya, 7 SOAS L. J., 301-361 (2020). 
  • Arthur Gwagwa, Erika Kraemer-Mbula, Nagla Rizk, Isaac Rutenberg, & Jeremy De Beer, Artificial intelligence (AI) deployments in Africa: Benefits, challenges and policy dimensions, 26 Afr. J. Info. & Comm., 1-28 (2020). (Paper also presented at the WeRobots Conference, University of Ottawa, 2020)
  • Victor Nzomo, Jacqueline Mwangi, Louisa Matu-Mureithi, Caroline Wanjiru Muchiri, & Isaac Rutenberg, Drivers and modalities of collaborative innovation among Nairobi’s mobile tech startups, 26 Afr. J. Info. & Comm., 1-24 (2020).
  • Isaac Rutenberg, Jacqueline Mwangi, Do patents and Utility Model Certificates Encourage Innovation in Kenya? 12 J. of Intell. Prop. L. & Prac, 206-215 (2017).
  • Victor Nzomo, Isaac Rutenberg, Patenting the Un-Patentable? A review of patentable subject matter in granted patent claims: Kenya as a case study, 5 S. Afr. Intell. Prop. L. J., 58-74 (2017).
  • Isaac Rutenberg, Lilian Makanga, Utility model protection in Kenya: The case for substantive examination, 19 Afr. J. Info. & Comm., 19-37 (2016).

SUPERVISED and AUTHORED REPORTS, PRESENTED PAPERS, and OTHER PUBLICATIONS
  • Towards a Sustainable, Multilateral, and Universal Solution for International Data Transfers, Report by the UK Government’s International Data Transfer Expert Council (Nov. 2023).
  • Isaac Rutenberg, First Approximation for the Black Letter Law and Key Aspects of Practice in IP Enforcement Across Africa, Book Review for AfronomicsLaw Symposium (2021).
  • Mercy King’ori, Mitchel Ondili, Isaac Rutenberg, Melissa Omino, Godana Galma, Data Protection in the Kenyan Banking Sector, Report from CIPIT (2021).
  • Florence Ogonjo, Joseph Gitonga, Angeline Wairegi, Isaac Rutenberg, Utilizing AI to Improve Efficiency of the Environment and Land Court in the Kenyan Judiciary, LegalAIIA’21 Conference, presented online.
  • Mitchel Ondili et al., The Artificial Intelligence Labour Gender Gap in Africa, Report from CIPIT, (2021).
  • Grace Mutung’u, & Isaac Rutenberg, Digital ID and Risk of Statelessness, 2 Statelessness and Citizenship Review, 348–354 (2020).
  • Open African Innovation Research (Open AIR). Scaling innovation: How open collaborative models help scale Africa’s knowledge-based enterprises, Cairo, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Lagos, Nairobi and Ottawa: Open AIR network. (2020)
  • Perdue, D. (Ed.), Identifying Inventions in the Public Domain: A Guide for Inventors and Entrepreneurs, Geneva: WIPO (2020). Contributors: Mboya, R., Padmanabhan, S., Rutenberg, I.
  • Isaac Rutenberg, Artificial Intelligence and Internet Health in Africa, How to MozFest (2020).
  • Erika Kramer-Mbula, Isaac Rutenberg, Innovation and technology hubs in Africa (presented at African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) Research Workshop, 2018).
  • Victor Nzomo, Isaac Rutenberg, Towards a National Intellectual Property Policy in Kenya, 6 Jahazi 27-31 (2017).
  • Caribou Digital, Kenya’s Identity Ecosystem, Farnham, Surrey, United Kingdom: Caribou Digital Publishing (2019). (Authors: Shoemaker, Kirk, and Rutenberg).
  • Xynou, M., (OONI), Filastò, A., (OONI), Karanja, M., Gwagwa, A., & Rutenberg, I. Zambia: Internet censorship during the 2016 general elections? (2016).
SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS and PATENTS
  • "Synthesis of polymer dielectric layers for organic thin film transistors via Surface-Initiated Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization." J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004, 126(13), 4062-4063.
  • "Direct synthesis of soluble, end-functionalized polyenes and polyacetylene block-copolymers." J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003, 125(28), 8515-8522.
  • "Synthesis of A,B-alternating copolymers by ring-opening-insertion-metathesis polymerization." Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2002, 41, 3839.
  • U.S. Pat. No. 6,987,154, "Ring expansion of cyclic olefins by olefin metathesis reactions with an acyclic diene and ring-opening polymerization of the cyclic olefins"
  • Registered Patent Agent with Kenya Industrial Property Institute.
  • Registered Patent Attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
  • Registered Attorney with the California State Bar Association