Actively Utilizing 'Industrial Property Information' as a Compass for Economic Security and R&D Directions

The government will utilize industrial property information to determine the direction of domestic economic security and research and development (R&D). Industrial property information consists of data generated and processed during the creation, protection, and utilization of industrial properties such as patents, trademarks, and designs, allowing for the observation of global technological and industrial trends. Recently, the importance of utilizing industrial property information across national affairs has increased significantly due to intensified global technological hegemony competition and supply chain restructuring. As of September this year, industrial property information accumulated from 56 countries domestically and internationally amounts to 600 million cases.

On the 19th, the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) announced the ‘1st Basic Plan for the Management and Utilization of Industrial Property Information’ (hereinafter referred to as the Basic Plan), jointly prepared by related ministries, at the ‘51st Ministerial Meeting on National Issues’ chaired by the Prime Minister. The plan outlines the strategic use of industrial property information across national security, R&D, industry, and other government sectors.

The Basic Plan aims for ‘national economic innovation based on industrial property information’ and is structured around three major strategies and ten key tasks. To maximize the strategic utilization of industrial property information, KIPO established a legal framework by enacting the ‘Act on the Promotion of Management and Utilization of Industrial Property Information’ (effective August 7, 2024) and gathered expert opinions from various fields to formulate the Basic Plan.

According to the Basic Plan, KIPO will expand the strategic utilization areas of industrial property information, including economic security and R&D. In the economic security sector, patent information related to national security and technologies concerning the nation’s critical interests will be shared, while cooperation among relevant agencies will be strengthened.

Additionally, to reduce overseas dependence on economic security items, patent data analysis will be used to identify alternative suppliers, actively supporting the government’s policy formulation for supply chain diversification.

Efforts will also be made to create an ecosystem that enables sustainable information utilization by fostering the private industrial property information service industry. To enhance the market’s self-sustainability, the plan includes expanding the opening of high-quality data and strengthening support for companies from startup to overseas expansion stages, including R&D, investment, and market development.

Furthermore, the plan promotes the introduction of a reporting and business performance verification system to understand market status and expand scale, as well as the implementation of vouchers related to industrial property information services. It also aims to operate consultative bodies for win-win cooperation between public and private services.

The Basic Plan also includes the development of an AI-based analysis platform to promote government-wide utilization of industrial property information and inter-ministerial collaboration. The platform will feature a converged database linking industrial property information with industrial and economic data, facilitating analysis requests from related agencies and providing network functions to share utilization cases mutually.

Through this, KIPO plans to consolidate institutional analytical capabilities to promptly respond to policy analysis demands from ministries and agencies, supporting objective policy formulation based on data by providing customized information.

The Basic Plan was established through collaboration and discovery of policy tasks by a task force composed of 27 private-sector members from academia, industry, and research since June. Starting next year, KIPO will investigate the management and utilization status of industrial property information and, based on the results, establish and implement detailed plans to carry out the Basic Plan.

Kim Wanki, Commissioner of KIPO, stated, “By establishing the Basic Plan, we will lay the foundation for national-level linkage and utilization of industrial property information to activate cooperation among related agencies and enhance the international competitiveness of private information service companies. KIPO will thoroughly execute policy tasks to ensure that industrial property information, a core resource held by the agency, contributes to strengthening domestic industrial competitiveness and realizing a dynamic economy.”

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