Patent Strategy Support Project, Expanded Application of Digital and Green New Deal

Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy Holds Public-Private Policy Council with KIPO
Strengthening 'Asset Valuation' for Innovative Companies... Increased Financing from Financial Sector
Cooperation with 10 ASEAN Countries, UAE, Saudi Arabia... Expanding New Southern and Northern Cooperation
Increasing Public Data Disclosure... "Post-COVID Strategy Development"
Patent Analysis of Future Cars, Drones, AI, Renewable Energy, and IoT Appliances

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The government is expanding the application of the Patent Strategy Support Project (IP R&D) to the Digital New Deal and Green New Deal. This will open up funding opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by expanding technology finance through enhanced asset valuation, a long-standing wish of innovative companies.

On the 6th at 3 p.m., Sung Yun-mo, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, held a public-private policy council meeting with Park Won-joo, Commissioner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), and representatives of excellent small, medium, and mid-sized enterprises. The purpose was to establish industrial policies based on intellectual property.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KIPO cooperated to localize materials, parts, and equipment technologies in response to Japan's export regulations. They created 72 patents for core items in 20 key materials and parts sectors and supported patent analysis for SMEs, reducing the average R&D period by six months.

Employees at the Water Science Research Institute conducting research at the LG Electronics Research and Development (R&D) Center in Changwon-si, Gyeongsangnam-do. (Photo by LG Electronics)

Going forward, policy cooperation will be strengthened in areas such as industrial intelligence, IP-R&D, intellectual property finance, and overseas expansion.

They will increase the openness and sharing of public data related to patents, standards, certification, research and development (R&D), and energy. This is to apply data and artificial intelligence (AI) to industries to increase added value.

Through the Patent Big Data Center, which opened on the 18th of last month, patent analysis will be conducted in five industries: future cars, drones, AI, new and renewable energy, and Internet of Things (IoT) home appliances, actively utilized in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s post-COVID-19 policy formulation.

Last year, analyses were conducted in semiconductors, displays, hydrogen industries, next-generation batteries, and biohealth.

In the future, R&D will not be planned mainly based on experts’ intuition but will be directed scientifically based on patent data. IP R&D is a project that analyzes patents early in technology development to set the optimal development direction.

Last year, IP R&D was applied to the materials, parts, and equipment sector, with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy selecting about 300 projects. This year, it will be applied to other fields, especially the Digital New Deal and Green New Deal.

The financial sector will nurture SMEs holding excellent intellectual property rights (IP) and provide financial support secured by patents.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KIPO will jointly support 9 billion KRW for valuation costs. They will expand the sharing of technology transaction information through the Technology Bank (NTB) and the online patent trading platform (IP-Market).

They will increase their outreach to the New Southern and New Northern regions. In connection with the 'Korea-ASEAN Industrial Technology Innovation Organization,' KIPO’s patent system will be disseminated.

KIPO currently conducts international searches for 20 countries worldwide. It is currently dispatching intellectual property experts to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia to conduct examinations on their behalf.

Additionally, to protect the 'K-Brand,' the 'Overseas Intellectual Property Center' will be expanded to the Middle East and emerging countries in Central and South America. KOTRA will discover companies planning to expand overseas and provide intellectual property education.

Minister Sung said, "Although the situation is more difficult than ever due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), it is at times like these that we must carefully consider to find the optimal direction rather than blindly moving forward. If we set industrial policy directions based on patents, which are objective and valuable data accumulated so far, we can minimize trial and error in policy implementation."

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy plans to strengthen cooperation with KIPO following this meeting. They will continue to hold sector-specific policy councils to further detail discussions.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.