Opening Remarks by Ms Liew Woon Yin, Director-General, Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) & Governor on the Board of Governors

Opening Remarks by Ms Liew Woon Yin, Director-General, Intellectual Property Office of Singpaore (IPOS) & Governor on the Board of Governors of the IP Academy (IPA) Singapore at the Signing of the Memorandum of Understanding Between IPOS, IP Academy Singapore, Nanyang Polytechnic, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Republic Polytechnic, Singapore Polytechnic, Temasek Polytechnic at Hotel Rendevous on 24th April 2006

Professor Hang, Chairman IPOS and IP Academy
Principals
Ladies and Gentlemen:

Good morning.
It is certainly a pleasure for me to be here today to welcome you all to witness an initiative that is very close to my heart – development of capabilities in the area of intellectual property (IP).
Today’s inaugural event bears witness to a committed joint intent by our tertiary educators, IPOS and the IP Academy to further cultivate and incorporate IP into our education system. This MOU signifies a great leap forward to the vision to nurture an IP-savvy society and industry.
To say I am delighted would thus indeed be an understatement.
IP is particularly crucial to Singapore. Competing on cost and efficiency alone would not suffice. Ideas and innovation are needed to help drive our economy forward. Our nation’s continued growth will increasingly need to rely more on its ability to build, equip and exploit IP.
The continued evolution of IP’s application in business has also resulted in a shift in the role of government agencies that have to deal with IP. IP offices have had to reinvent themselves – to be proactive centers of growth, having a direct role not only in protection of IP, but in the catalytic roles of innovation-promotion. Globally, we see IP offices being given greater scope to effect these changes, and to be able to deal quickly to meet a nation’s demands.
IPOS was established in 2001 to drive IP developments in Singapore and has since put in place not only IP awareness programmes, but broad-based IP education initiatives and business assistance schemes to support local industry further up the value-chain. This month alone IPOS has partnered IE Singapore to conduct a seminar for business on globalizing with IP, worked with the Design Singapore Council on another seminar to create awareness of IP in the design industry, and organised the Grand Finals of the National Trade Mark Competition for schools.
IPOS will continue to partner like-minded agencies such as IE Singapore and SPRING to arm our local companies with the necessary information and resources to better manage their IP assets, and with value-added education partners such as the polytechnics, and IP Academy to drive awareness and education in IP.
Businesses especially those in the technology and creative intensive industries are starting to pay much more heed to their IP as they recognize the value in including IP into their business plans and strategies. Even companies in the service sector are seeing the importance of how trademark registration and enforcement can help protect and add-value to their business game plan. Singapore companies need to arm themselves with the IP skills internally to play the IP game.
The IP Academy was established by the Ministry of Law and IPOS, to help provide the companies with these skills. Formed in 2003, the IP Academy aims to build a thriving culture that encourages the management and harnessing of innovation, and the resultant IP rights. In the 3 years since its inception, it has certainly worked to put Singapore on the map through both its training programmes and its thought-leadership programmes in Singapore and overseas.
IPOS has partnered IP Academy in a number of initiatives; there being synergy in our agenda, and this has provided what we hope is a seamless montage of education programmes – from broad-based initiatives to skills development – available to companies and IP professionals in Singapore.
Today’s initiative is yet another of these synergies and it is our combined hope that this programme can advance and maintain Singapore’s competitive advantage in the face of this growing focus in IP.
Our local polytechnics has always been nimble and pro-active in keeping pace with the rapid changes in industry – be it in developing programmes to face new technological and business opportunities, or in adding dimensions of new business practices, innovation and entrepreneurship, in existing curriculum. IPOS has benefited considerably from close relationships with the various polytechnics. We appreciate the energy and enthusiasm of the interns from the polytechnics working on our projects, the support of the lecturers in working with us on our schools programmes such as the Trade Mark Competition, and have seen the increasing interest of polytechnic lecturers in IP.
It is thus timely that this programme comes into being. Through this collaboration we hope to foster a closer collaboration where IPOS and the IP Academy can work to bring IP elements into existing curriculum and highlight IP’s relevancy in various aspects of industry and business development.
IPOS, IP Academy together with our distinguished tertiary institutions here today will thus sign this MOU which sets out to:
1. Educate and train a core group of academic staff capable of developing the appropriate curricula for students in the respective polytechnics present here.
2. Build up IP management competencies of the technology managers within these polytechnics.
By incorporating IP into the curriculum for polytechnics, we will help prepare our young talent for future realities in a global marketplace where knowledge in IP and its application will be their competitive edge.
So let us all look forward to this rapid osmosis of IP knowledge into our community whereby interaction with IP becomes un-intimidating and pretty much part and parcel of our lives.
I thank you all for your support and look forward to the continued growth and strengthening of our close ties.