Speech by Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Education and Law) Ms Sim Ann at the 10th anniversary event of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore

25 MAY 2011

25 May 2011 Posted in Speeches

Members of IPOS’ past and present Board of Directors,
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

  1. Good afternoon. I am very happy to join you today in celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS). Today’s event commemorates more than just a significant milestone in IPOS’ journey; it also celebrates the important contributions that IP has made to Singapore’s economy.

IP Revolution

  1. We have long recognised the significance of IP as the currency of a knowledge-based economy. Hence, at the dawn of the new millennium, IPOS was formed to promote and develop the unique role that IP plays for both businesses as well as our economy. Many initiatives were launched to bring about an IP revolution in Singapore. Ten years on, we have not only developed a strong IP regime that is conducive for innovation and investment, but also engendered greater awareness of the value of IP among Singaporeans and businesses in Singapore.

Contributing to Singapore’s Economy

  1. IPOS constantly reviews and updates its systems and infrastructure to make Singapore a compelling location for businesses. For instance, IPOS has rolled out a suite of e-services, including ePatents, eTrademarks and eDesigns, to facilitate IP registrations and research. To further enhance the online services for the benefit of its customers, IPOS is now developing an integrated IT platform to provide a faster and more streamlined user experience across its registries.
  1. In today’s globalised world, businesses need to be highly savvy in IP for an edge over the competition. The Intellectual Property Management (IPM) programme launched by IPOS in 2007 lends a helping hand in diagnosing the state of IPM in both Small and Medium Enterprises as well as public agencies. The programme ensures that these organisations’ IP capabilities are developed and deployed to reap value and yield economic benefits. To date, IPOS has reached out to more than 200 companies and created almost half a billion dollars in projected economic value-add.
  1. In the past decade, IPOS has been relentless in its quest to build a comprehensive and robust IP legislative framework. Our IP laws are constantly reviewed and fine-tuned. IPOS’ active participation in international IP fora and engagement with partners such as the World Intellectual Property Organization and IP offices of other countries has allowed Singapore to glean best practices of IP regimes around the world and keep our IP regime up-to-date and relevant.
  1. Today, we have a robust and business-friendly IP regime benchmarked against the best in the world, to ensure that Singapore remains a secure and attractive destination for business investments. I am heartened to note that our efforts have placed Singapore at the forefront of international surveys such as the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s Global Competitiveness Report, the International Institute for Management Development (IMD)’s World Competitiveness Yearbook and the Political & Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC)’s Asian Intelligence Reports . Based on latest rankings, Singapore was ranked top in Asia by PERC, and also top three in the world in the WEF report.

Bridging Innovation: ideas2IP

  1. Moving forward, IPOS is committed to developing Singapore into a creative and knowledge-based economy. As part of our continual effort to spur innovations, I am delighted to announce that IPOS will be launching “ideas2IP” today. ideas2IP is an online innovation platform, designed to bring inventors and investors together to commercialise good ideas.
  1. A imed at bridging the gap between IP creation and exploitation, ideas2IP allows individual inventors to come forth to share their ideas with potential investors in a safe environment. Investors with the means and experience can help to fund and guide the further development of ideas into a form that has commercial potential. I hope this platform will encourage IP owners, intermediaries and private sector companies to help turn ideas into commercial reality.

IP Competency Framework

  1. I am also happy to announce that IPOS has developed an IP Competency Framework in collaboration with the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) to raise the capabilities of IP professionals and practitioners. This is important in an increasingly active IP industry. The IP Competency Framework maps out the skill sets and competencies needed for IP practitioners, and sets out suggested pathways to obtain them.
  1. Under the IP Competency Framework, four key IP occupational levels have been identified, with 57 competency units initially created. These will be developed and validated into standards with key industry experts from the IP services sector, academia, and the legal profession over the next three years. IPOS will also accredit training providers who will certify successful programme participants as well as training programmes. IPOS will partner with WDA to create a new sector for IP under the Workforce Skills Qualifications ( WSQ ) framework. Known as IP WSQ, it will be the latest framework to be developed under the WSQ system, with IPOS acting as the Course Accreditation Body.

Conclusion

  1. Looking to the future, we must continue to ensure that our efforts stay relevant in order for Singapore to remain competitive in the global economy. But to do so, we need our stakeholders on board with us in this journey. It gives me great pleasure to see IPOS’ stakeholders well-represented here in this hall today – from IPOS staff, to its past and present Board of Directors, members of various IP committees, as well as many other stakeholders from the public and private sectors. IPOS is what it is today because of the valuable contributions and support from every one of you. You have played and will continue to play an integral part in growing and shaping the IP landscape in Singapore.
  1. I would like to take this opportunity to especially thank the Director-General of IPOS, Ms Liew Woon Yin, for leading IPOS in the IP journey for the past 10 years. Her passion and dedication, coupled with IPOS’ consultative approach towards engaging its stakeholders, has brought IPOS from strength to strength. W hile we can now look back at the past decade with understandable pride, we must not rest on our laurels. We must continue to stay nimble, respond intelligently to new developments, and take bold and creative steps to meet new challenges. A big round of applause to Ms Liew for bringing us this far. A new chapter has now opened in Singapore’s IP journey, and I am pleased to welcome BG Tan Yih San, who will take over the reins as the Director-General of IPOS with effect from 1 June 2011. Yih San has just relinquished his appointment of MINDEF’s Future Systems Architect and I wish him every success in leading IPOS in the next phase of development. Welcome to the MinLaw family.
  1. In closing, I would like to congratulate IPOS again on your 10th anniversary. May you scale greater heights in the years ahead!
  1. Thank you very much.

Last updated on 25 Nov 2012