During his opening address at the Europe Asia Patent Information Conference (EAPIC) which was held in Singapore on 11 September 2002, Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee, Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs, announced that an IP Academy will be set up in the country in the near future. The key focus of the IP Academy will be to firstly, provide executive/professional education and training for the IP, business and technical communities and secondly, provide thought leadership in IP matters for industry, academia and government.

It also announced at the opening that the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) will work closely with the Economic Development Board (EDB) to build Singapore into a compelling IP hub, conducive for the creation, ownership, exploitation, management and protection of intellectual assets.

In addition, in March 2003, IPOS will be working with the Japan Patent Office to bring to Singapore "Optimal 2003", a conference cum exhibition showcasing the latest innovations and best practices in intellectual asset management.

On 19 September 2002, Singapore’s first Intellectual Property Court was established to deal specifically with cases of IP rights disputes.

Tax and incentive schemes have been enhanced to make it more attractive for companies to conduct IP management in and from Singapore.

In fact, the EDB has made the statement that intellectual property will be the country’s next growth driver.

All the above recent developments in the IP arena are timely, if not a little overdue. For a local IP practitioner such as ECMS, it is indeed exciting to see that the Singapore Government has come to recognise the value and potential of intellectual assets. It is heartening to learn that the government has, consequently, committed itself to generating IP awareness on the public domain and to educating the layman and interested professionals on the subject. One hopes that this drive would cause the local small and medium enterprises to understand the importance of obtaining trade mark protection for their brand names and to finally perceive monetary spending in this area as an investment in a worthy business asset.

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