Mr Ranjana Abeysekara,
Director, Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Sector,
Bureau for Asia and the Pacific,
World Intellectual Property Organization
Mr. Koh Tin Fook,
Director, Technical Cooperation Directorate,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Fellow participants & colleagues
Ladies & gentlemen
1. A very good morning to you all, and welcome to the WIPO regional capacity building workshop on the formulation and implementation of IP development plans – an initiative of the World Intellectual Property Organization, in collaboration with the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore. To our foreign participants and speakers, a very warm welcome to Singapore.
2. Allow me to convey the apologies from Ms Liew Woon Yin, Director-General of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore, who cannot join us this morning because of a prior engagement.
3. Let me begin by stating the obvious. As we all know, globalization and the emergence of the knowledge economy have meant that intellectual property have received greater attention and prominence than ever before. Today, intellectual property is no long an esoteric subject that is confined to academics and specialist lawyers. The field of IP is an ever-changing one – spurred by technological and business developments as globalization gathers pace. IP is everywhere around us, and has become a central issue in international discussions and a key component in national policy planning.
4. A small nation-state with no natural resources like Singapore must constantly re-invent itself and move up the value chain in order to stay competitive in a fast-moving, ever-changing global economy. As the Singapore economy evolved from heavy industry-based manufacturing to the development of knowledge-intensive sectors, it is important that we have in place systems and policies drive innovation and creative capabilities. To bring this objective to reality, a large extent depends on the strength and robustness of our national IP system.
5. For Singapore, our strategy is to use IP to incentivize creativity and make innovation pervasive in our economy. We aim to spread innovation across the corporate sector, enhance incentives for enterprises to intensify R&D activities and push for greater commercialisation of research that has been generated. To support this objective, Singapore had instituted broad-based changes to our IP regime and set-up.
6. In 2001, the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore was constituted from a former government department into a statutory board under the Ministry of Law. Tasked with a new vision to foster a creative Singapore where ideas and intellectual efforts are valued, developed and exploited, and with a mission to provide the infrastructure, platform and environment for the greater creation, protection and exploitation of IP, IPOS’ mandate was expanded to encompass not only the promotion of IP awareness and education, but also in fostering IP commercialization and enhancing IP capabilities. We put in place a multi-pronged strategy, with programmes and platforms to reach out to audiences and stakeholders ranging from the general public and users of IP to the professional, business and R&D sectors.
7. At the same time, legislative changes were effected to keep pace with a changing IP landscape. A new patents regime was introduced in 1995. An overhauling of our trademark regime in 1995 was followed in 1999 with legislation to introduce new IPR systems such as geographical indications and layout design of integrated circuits. Further changes were introduced after 2004 following the conclusion of the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, including in the area of plant variety protection. To make our IP system more accessible to our users and stakeholders, a suite of online services was made available for all major registrable rights, namely e-patents, e-trademarks and e-designs.
8. Going forward, we plan to intensify our ongoing broad-based engagement of all stakeholders and users of our IP system. We will build on lessons learnt in the recent past, fill in gaps where these exist and intensify efforts aimed at enhancing our core competencies.
9. I should also mention that we did not embark on this exercise alone. We benefited immensely by way of knowledge, advice, expertise and various forms of assistance from other countries and international organizations like WIPO. In fact, Singapore’s relationship with WIPO go back a long way. Today, Singapore-WIPO cooperation has assumed a higher level. Following the conclusion of a new Memorandum of Understanding in June 2006, we are now working in partnership with WIPO to help countries in the Asia-Pacific strengthen their IP capabilities. The MoU covers a range of joint cooperation activities that span from technical assistance programmes and training courses to policy dialogues and study visits.
10. Having benefited from foreign assistance, Singapore is now keen to share our developmental experience with other countries. Be it on a bilateral basis or together with WIPO, we have sent technical missions to Myanmar, Cambodia, Pakistan, Jordan and the UAE to assist them in establishing their IP systems. We have similarly hosted study delegations from Nepal, Cambodia, Iran and the DPRK. This regional workshop provides another opportunity for us to share our experience with countries in the region. In the course of the next few days, both I and my fellow colleagues will speak on the Singapore IP experiences in areas such as developing user capabilities, establishment of legal IP framework, raising public awareness and so on.
11. Our objective is not to formulate a “one-size-fits-all” approach. Rather, the aim is to help everyone learn from everyone else, so that by the end of this workshop, we have a better sense of what is required of us IP officials to formulate and implement a robust and effective national IP plan that can support our respective national developmental efforts. I believe this is possible. In my personal view, with each gathering we attend, we come away with more wisdom and knowledge, and above all, a renewed sense of partnership and cooperation.
12. I would like to end my wishing all gathered here today an insightful and fruitful workshop. On behalf of IPOS, allow me to extend my warmest thanks to WIPO and MFA for co-organising this event, and to the participants and speakers for your time and energy in the coming few days.
13. Thank you very much.