2024 | Strategic Planning & Policy Department: Li Bingsong

A firsthand look into Singapore’s IP policy

A photo with the WIPO-IPOS-SUSS study team after interviewing an enterprise.

This summer, I had the privilege of serving as a research intern in the Strategic Policy & Planning Department (SPPD) of IPOS. During this three-month experience, I was given the opportunity to contribute to several highly meaningful and substantive projects that furthered my intellectual property (IP) & innovation policy knowledge and sharpened my quantitative and qualitative research skills.

A highlight of this internship was helping in the meetings for the Singapore Intellectual Property Strategy 2030 (SIPS 2030), which brought together policymakers from various agencies in shaping the implementation of Singapore’s IP policy. From this experience, I gained invaluable firsthand insight into Singapore’s IP and innovation policy on a whole-of-government level.

I was especially happy to use and sharpen my qualitative and quantitative research skills by contributing to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)-IPOS-SUSS study on how SMEs used IP. I not only helped engage the companies to understand their needs, but also analysed the data for policy insights, which were presented to the policy and engagement cluster. Thanks to my mentors, I gained immense practical experience on data visualisation, presentation, and ‘storytelling’.

Beyond research skills, I also learned about another important aspect of policymaking – partnership and engagement. As part of the SME study, I engaged with SMEs to understand their needs. I also had the privilege of partnering with companies that benefited from the Mentorship for Intangibles Asset Transformation (MINT) programme, to develop case studies showcasing their successes.

Overall, I would like to thank everyone in SPPD, who were not only great colleagues and friends, but also offered invaluable insight and advice. I am especially grateful to Wei Hao and Xing Le for their excellent mentorship. Throughout the internship, they consistently took time from their busy schedules to teach me about IP law, business strategy, and policy, which would be useful for my projects in IPOS and beyond. They also took great care to tailor the internship to suit my strengths and interests and consistently supported my work. Overall, interning at IPOS has been a phenomenal experience and I could not be more thankful to everyone here for making it possible.