Patent Office "Fruits of R&D Strategy Support... Contribution to Semiconductor Equipment Localization"

The Patent Office's patent-based research and development strategy support project (hereinafter referred to as the IP-R&D project) is bearing fruit in the industrial field.

According to the Patent Office on the 25th, last year the IP-R&D project provided customized patent strategies (713 tasks) to small and medium-sized enterprises, mid-sized companies, universities, and public research institutions with a budget of 43.5 billion KRW, thereby playing a role in enhancing research and development performance and securing core patents.

As a result, companies that received support were found to have a 1.4 times higher proportion of excellent patents compared to companies that did not receive support, demonstrating significantly higher quantitative and qualitative levels of patents.

In addition, the proportion of patents filed by supported companies in major overseas countries such as the United States, Europe, and Japan was 2.5 times that of unsupported companies.

On the 25th, Lee In-sil, Commissioner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office, visited Yujin Tech located in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, toured the production facilities, and held a meeting with company officials and others in the conference room. Photo by Korean Intellectual Property Office

Above all, among the companies that participated in last year’s IP-R&D project and received support from the Patent Office, Yujin Tech Co., Ltd. achieved success in the localization of semiconductor equipment.

This company received in-depth patent analysis support from the Patent Office and derived design ideas related to the structure of core components.

They also received support for research and development directions utilizing this and for dispute prevention strategies during the patent acquisition process, successfully developing technology without concerns of patent disputes.

The support during the IP-R&D project participation ultimately led Yujin Tech to secure 10 excellent patents in the thin film process equipment field and to localize the ‘atomic layer deposition apparatus’ (a key semiconductor microfabrication device capable of forming uniform thin films over large areas) that had been monopolized by foreign companies.

Most importantly, the Patent Office emphasizes that this technology and equipment, successfully localized, will serve as a bridge for the company to enter the global market by actually supplying domestic and international global companies in the future.

Based on these achievements, the Patent Office plans to expand the IP-R&D project this year in collaboration with related ministries and strengthen infrastructure for spreading patent-based research and development.

The Patent Office intends to continuously discover and expand patent policies that companies actually need by sharing and communicating with the semiconductor industry to help them understand the semiconductor industry support policies currently being promoted.

Meanwhile, on the same day, Commissioner Lee In-sil of the Patent Office visited Yujin Tech located in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, to listen to the company’s intellectual property field difficulties and promised to promote policies to resolve them.

The company visit was conducted to review the achievements of the IP-R&D project, which is being promoted as part of national tasks around the first anniversary of the current government’s inauguration, and to seek effective support directions in the semiconductor field.

Commissioner Lee said, “The Patent Office plans to gradually expand the IP-R&D project to secure national strategic technologies including semiconductors and to preempt core patents.”

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