Global conference spotlights Singapore as Brand & Business Hub

1      SINGAPORE - Around 8,000 global thought and business leaders are in town to discuss the latest brand and Intellectual Property (IP) strategies at the International Trademark Association’s (INTA) annual global conference, which opened in Singapore today.

2      The event is taking place on the back of record trade mark filings worldwide, underscoring the growing importance of brands as strategic IP assets for enterprises, and Singapore’s role as a global brand, business, and IP hub.

3      IP filings continued to grow in 2021. Worldwide, there was an increase in trade mark filings, with 18.1 million trade mark classes filed globally, an increase of 5.5 percent from the previous year. This was the twelfth year of successive growth. Asia continued to spearhead this growth, accounting for more than two thirds of trade mark filings. A decade ago, Asia accounted for less than half of global filings.

4      The value of the top 5,000 global brands has also increased from around USD 11 trillion in 2020 to over USD 12 trillion in 2022. This marks a growth of around 14 percent across the COVID-19 pandemic period.

5      In conjunction with the meeting, the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) has released two studies¹ today, analysing the link between IP and business performance. Looking at the pool of Singapore’s largest businesses, one of the studies found that businesses with strong brands and/or patent portfolios had about double the revenue, net profit, and market capitalisation as compared with businesses without strong brands and/or patent portfolios.

6     The other study also found that in the past decade, Singapore enterprises with trade marks delivered more than 10% increase in profits, as compared to businesses without registered IP. In addition, businesses with both trade marks and patents delivered around two times more profits, as compared to businesses without registered IP.

7      Mr. Edwin Tong SC, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, and Second Minister for Law, who officiated the event said: “We’re glad that INTA and many major brands have chosen Singapore as a hub for their business and IP activities. Brands and IP help drive business performance and growth, especially in an increasingly competitive global marketplace where businesses need to differentiate themselves. We will continue to support businesses using their IP to grow in, from and through Singapore.”

8      The conference features a ‘Singapore Pavilion’, which showcases 20 global and local enterprises that use Singapore as a global brand, business, and IP hub. They tapped on the city state’s business friendly environment, skilled labour market, robust physical and digital infrastructure, ASEAN connection and strong legal and IP regime for global expansion.

9      Enterprises showcased include Procter and Gamble (P&G), Razer, Unilever, Ya Kun, and Scanteak amongst others. The showcase was curated by Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), the Economic Development Board (EDB), Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) and Singapore Tourism Board (STB).

10      More information on INTA’s 2023 Annual Meeting Live+ and Singapore’s participation can be found at INTA's 2023 Annual Meeting Live+.

¹ The two studies are titled, ‘The Brands, Patents and Company Performance Study’ and 'The Singapore IP and Firms’ Performance Study’. For full details of the studies, including their datasets used and methodologies, click here and here respectively.

For media queries, please contact:

IPOS

Ms Jenny Kwok
Senior Assistant Director
Media & Communications
Tel: +65 6331 6572
jenny_kwok@ipos.gov.sg

Ms Cherie Koh
Assistant Director
Media & Communications
Tel: +65 6330 2705
cherie_koh@ipos.gov.sg

Klareco Communications

Mr Ridwan Abbas
Senior Consultant
Tel: +65 98513403
klareco-ipos@klarecocomms.com