Singapore: Singapore IP Initiatives Go Hand-In-Hand With Its Life Sciences Initiatives

Singapore is a tiny island nation with no natural resources, but has made its mark on the world economic map. Its government has successfully developed electronics and chemical manufacturing industries as engines of growth in the past three decades. With its excellent infrastructure, pro-business governmental agencies and good governance, Singapore has the vision to develop life sciences as the third engine of economic growth.

To spearhead this enterprising vision, a dedicated Biopolis costing US$8.5 billion for life science research is currently under construction and the first phase is expected to be ready by mid-2003. Located adjacent to the Science Park, the National University and the University Hospital, these areas will combine to form a specialised corridor for advanced life science research.

The key areas of Singapore's life science research include the identification of genes and their expression patterns; stem cell research; biomedical engineering and bio-informatics. While patents have been the most established area of IP for inventions arising from research in these areas and others, other areas of protection merit some review. The Singapore government intends to develop Singapore into a knowledge-based economy, and Bioinformatics, for example, has been identified as a priority area of current life science research. Database rights may thus be very relevant for encouraging investments in creating and protecting valuable genome databases. The European Union for instance has a Database Protection Directive to promote knowledge-based industries relying on databases. Moreover, the pre-requisites for obtaining a database right are not as stringent as those for patent protection. This right is provided to a maker of a database of which "the collection, verification or representation of its contents, demonstrates, quantitatively or qualitatively, a substantial investment, regardless of whether the database manifests some creative or technical achievement". It may thus be in Singapore's interest to develop a similar sui generis legislation.

To complement new developments in legislation that may be imminent, the Singapore government has taken a bold step ahead in setting up a dedicated Intellectual Property Court, with most of the hardware now in the final stages of planning.

Intellectual property law in life sciences also has to consider the additional controversial dimension of morality and ethics. While stem-cell research in the US has been restricted, Singapore has taken the opportunity to create a more liberal environment. As the government authorities are enthusiastically promoting the life science industry, they should be consciously aware of their role as moderators and regulators between society and technology. Given that IP law in Singapore is still at its infancy, it has to tread cautiously on this ethical minefield.