Speech by Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee at the Launch of Strategies for Creation, Ownership, Protection & Exploitation of Intellectual Property (SCOPE-IP) at SGX Auditorium
|
Mr Chew Heng Ching,
President and Chairman of Singapore Institute of Directors
Mr Gautam Banerjee,
Executive Chairman-Elec of PricewaterhouseCoopers
And my colleague, Mr Wong Sheng Kwai,
Assistant Director-General of IPOS
Ladies and gentlemen.
A very good afternoon to all of you. It gives me great pleasure to be here at the inaugural session of the Intellectual Property (IP) Management Insight Series. This series is an awareness programme initiated by the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) targeting leading businesses in Singapore and the people who run them. It is indeed strategic that this is being organised jointly with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the Singapore Institute of Directors (SID) and the Singapore Exchange (SGX).
IPOS has the mandate to spark an IP revolution in Singapore - to put in place a nimble, pro-business IP regime supported by a comprehensive suite of IP services to develop Singapore into a global hub for IP development and business. For this to happen, a key building block is to grow more IP-savvy businesses with strong brands and cutting-edge technologies that make their mark in the global marketplace. All the players that make up this building block have joined hands for this "Insight" series. I am certain that this happy collaboration will bring us closer to realising our vision of making Singapore an IP hub.
IP is a subject close to my heart. Not just because I am a lawyer by training, but because I believe that for Singapore, IP is what will keep us relevant and competitive in these challenging times. That is why I have been officiating at many key events to champion the IP cause for Singapore.
The growing importance of IP is linked to the evolution of the innovating firm. During the 80s, almost every company embraced quality. In the 90s, the "in" thing was re-engineering processes and setting up knowledge systems. Efficiency and effectiveness were expected norms.
Today, these no longer excite the market or provide sustainable advantage. To achieve quantum leaps, focusing on improving quality and processes alone is not enough. Creating "out of the box" new businesses, products and services is imperative.
In order to consistently stay ahead of competition, companies are learning how to harness their intellectual resources to produce IP and to effectively deploy that IP arsenal for maximum value. The new ecology of competition is all about IP management and strategy.
IP management is often referred to as "intellectual asset management". It is a continuous process that employs a structured approach aligning a company's IP development and management with its corporate strategy in increasing revenue, reducing costs, improving research and development (R&D), strengthening market competitiveness and enhancing value for its stakeholders.
Some of our local companies are already managing IP to good effect. Take Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) for example. Its famous "Tiger" beer is marketed in over 50 countries around the world. Today, it has arguably the widest footprint among Asian beer brands. Its world class quality standing is backed by 36 international awards and gold medals, including the equivalent of an Oscar in the brewing world, the Brewing Industry International Award, a UK award which it won in 1998.
APB invests some $250 million annually in marketing its entire portfolio of over 40 brands and variants in the Asia Pacific region and beyond. Today, APB's IP portfolio is worth a whopping S$820 million. It has achieved this through a comprehensive and effective IP management strategy.
Besides aligning its assiduous research into emerging consumer trends, lifestyles and preferences to keep its brands and products relevant and exciting, a systematic trade mark protection strategy across more than 90 countries worldwide helps to ensure that their marketing dollars are fully harvested.
In addition to engaging external watch services to monitor infringement activities around the world, APB has also put in place an internal process where all employees are encouraged to report possible conflict or infringement activities to the Group's Legal Department for further investigation and action. IP management has been key to APB's success as a Singapore icon with international standing and which will continue to be so, going forward.
Another example is Singapore Technologies Engineering (ST Engg). To-date, they have generated enough IP to fuel 58 patent applications in Singapore. ST Engg is an integrated engineering group specialising in the fields of aerospace, electronics, land systems and marine. Starting out in 1967 as a company providing defence materials and services, it has since evolved rapidly from manufacturing activities to value-added systems upgrades and innovative product design and development. The company now has an in-house IP management system to extract ideas and transform them into valuable IP. This includes putting in place -
- Processes to assist inventors in filing their ideas for evaluation
- A reward system to give incentives to inventors who innovate
- IP workshops and other platforms to create awareness and publicity
- A dedicated IP webpage on their staff portal
ST Engg's position as an industry leader was given a further boost with its patent on the "Self Destructing Impact Fuse". This patent marked an important step in its use of a strong IP portfolio and a sound IP protection strategy, as part of its globalisation efforts. This novel invention not only addressed the high cost and non-environmentally friendly problem of disposing duds in ammunition rounds, but also earned the company international recognition. More importantly, it is an affirmation that IP can indeed enhance a company's business competitive edge and help augment its reach into the global market.
The experiences of APB and ST Engg and many other local success stories can be found in a publication by IPOS called "Make Your Move - Getting Ahead with Intellectual Property". "Make your Move" has been written from a business perspective and contains useful tips from leading IP practitioners on the subject. For all companies aspiring to be successful, I would recommend it for compulsory reading!
Besides producing such publications like "Make Your Move", IPOS is also developing other tools and programmes to help business build their IP capabilities. Today, I am happy to launch SCOPE IP, IPOS' national IP Management Programme. . SCOPE IP stands for Strategies for Creation, Ownership, Protection and Exploitation of IP.
SCOPE IP aims to meet a wide range of needs of different businesses in understanding and implementing IP management processes. On one end of the scale, there are IP rich start ups or smaller businesses that need low cost, practical tools to get going. On the other, we have more established companies ready to go global that may need specialist assistance in sharpening their competitive edge in the global marketplace.
To cater to this, the SCOPE IP programme will incorporate useful self-help tools to raise awareness and to market the benefits of good IP management as well as a "best practice" methodology for assessing a company's IP capabilities.
SCOPE IP will be implemented in two phases. First off the shelf is a free virtual IP doctor - an online self-assessment diagnostic tool hosted on IPOS' IP portal, SurfIP.
Tailored for Senior Management's use, this virtual IP doctor will help you get a pulse on your IP through a health report containing best practices in areas identified for improvement. It will help you identify and inventorise your IP stock and align your business strategies with the deployment of your IP. It will list references to other resources and IP specialists if you need further assistance. This report could be also used as a starting point to engage potential business partners for investment and collaboration.
In phase two of SCOPE IP, a comprehensive toolkit based on a "best practice" protocol on IP management will be developed. This can then be used as a benchmark for IP consultants. We hope to train a pool of high quality IP specialists in the use of this toolkit, who can then prescribe specific remedies and strategies to ensure a robust IP health for aspiring enterprises. These consultancies could be partly funded through existing assistance schemes administered by agencies such as the EDB, and SPRING Singapore. Having an established methodology for assessing the IP capabilities of a business would help to facilitate greater objectivity and clarity in business negotiations surrounding IP assets, for example in the financing of new ventures, M & A activities and so on. It will also be useful in the light of a tax incentive scheme of automatic writing down allowance for acquisition of IPs coming into effect in November this year. IPOS expects to implement Phase two of SCOPE IP by early next year.
For now, SCOPE IP's virtual IP doctor is ready to receive its first patient. I am sure you will be eager to get yourself registered. In a moment, IPOS will be presenting the use of this online module to you. I highly recommend all of you to try it out.
Finally, I would like to thank SID, SGX and PwC for partnering IPOS in organising this IP Management Insight Series. Whether this series, or toolkits such as SCOPE IP, all these are key building blocks that will enable companies in Singapore to make the quantum leap, joining international movers and shakers and be a force to be reckoned with. So, lets all be ambassadors for IP. Thank you. |
|