On 28 January 2003, the Intellectual Property (IP) Academy of Singapore officially opened its doors to the public.

This latest law training academy offers certification courses and executive training to lawyers, patent agents, marketing strategists and investment bankers. The academy hopes to train up to two hundred and fifty such professionals annually on the know-how’s of managing and protecting inventions and other intellectual assets.

At the opening ceremony, Singapore’s Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs, Professor Ho Peng Kee, announced his beliefs that "the IP Academy will play a catalytic role as (it) expands the frontiers of Singapore’s pioneering efforts in IP" and that the academy can assist in the drive to nurture the country as "an IP hotspot".

Two certification courses and two executive training courses have already been scheduled in the academy’s Calendar of Events for 2003: we have the "Graduate Certificate in Patent Drafting and Interpretation" course and the "Graduate Certificate in Intellectual Property Law" course under the former category and the "IP Engineering Training Courses: For Research Scientists and Engineers" and "IP Law in the Chinese Economic Zones: Convergence and Divergence" courses under the latter. Completion of the "Graduate Certificate in Intellectual Property Law" course is a statutory pre-requisite for admission as a registered patent agent in Singapore.

More information on the IP Academy, the courses mentioned in this article as well as other programmes offered by the academy may be found at its website at www.ipacademy.edu.sg

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