Singapore and China partner to launch IP innovation centre
Singapore and China have announced plans to establish an IP innovation service centre in the “Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City” (SSGKC), aimed at linking the innovation ecosystems of both countries more closely.
SSGKC is a joint project initiated by leaders from Guangdong and Singapore to serve as a strategic development platform and a model for economic transformation and industrial upgrading. It is expected to be developed over the next 20 years.
IP ValueLab, the enterprise engagement arm of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), signed a memorandum of understanding with the city’s administration committee and master developer (Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City Investment and Development) today, September 20.
The centre is expected to provide a platform to connect IP expertise within the government and private sectors from both countries, as well as establishing an IP college.
Chinese enterprises will gain access to ASEAN and other overseas markets through Singapore. Innovators can also take advantage of platforms for expedited IP application processes into the ASEAN region.
In a press release, IPOS added that it is one of only two countries in the world that can transact and conduct patent searches in English and Chinese, which will add to Singapore’s attractiveness to Chinese enterprises.
Under the agreement, Singaporean companies entering into China will have access to IP consultancy services.
China’s Guangdong province secured the largest number of domestic patent filings in 2017 for the eighth year running, filing more than 208,000 applications.
It also made a record number of international patent and trademark filings last year, with the patent filings amounting to more than half of China's total, according to statistics from China’s State Intellectual Property Office.
Tan Shau En, executive director of the IP ValueLab, said: “The new IP Innovation Centre will be a critical link in the global innovation ecosystem with Guangzhou and Singapore acting as attractive bases to anchor and commercialise IP, enabling access to high growth regions in ASEAN and the Greater Bay Area [in China], and bolstering high value economic growth for Guangzhou and Singapore.”
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