Singapore: a future Asian hub

01-10-2015

Singapore: a future Asian hub

R.A.R DE BRUIJH HOLDING BY / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

The IP office in Singapore has the goal of becoming an Asia-wide centre for IP, and has three broad aims to help it achieve this. WIPR reports.

Sanofi, Canon and ZTE were just three of the big-name brands represented at IP Week @ SG, an event hosted by the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) in August. Now in its fourth iteration, the initiative brings together local and international parties from the intellectual property world, including judges, lawyers, brands and academics, to discuss IP topics.

The event, which took place shortly before WIPR went to press (August 24 to 28), is one of several ways through which IPOS is aiming to realise its chief goal of becoming an Asian IP hub. To achieve this, IPOS has three broad aims in mind: improving “accessibility”, “quality” and “interoperability”, according to Tan Yih San, chief executive of the office.

Tan explains to WIPR some of the other initiatives that fall under the “accessibility” umbrella, including an IP financing scheme that allows local businesses to use their patents as collateral for bank loans. Launched in April 2014, the scheme “opens a new avenue for innovative companies to access capital that is needed to grow and expand”, says Tan.


IPOS, USPTO, ASEAN, USPTO, Japan Patent Office, JPO, Intellectual Property Office of Singapore

WIPR