Singapore: IPOS introduces new programmes to spur on innovation

Managing IP is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Gardens, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Singapore: IPOS introduces new programmes to spur on innovation

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), Lloyd's Asia, and Antares Underwriting Asia have launched an initiative to support innovative enterprises as they enter global markets. Called the Intellectual Property Insurance Initiative for Innovators (IPIII), the programme will give innovative enterprises access to insurance coverage for legal expenses that may be incurred in intellectual property (IP) infringement proceedings worldwide.

IPIII offers an insurance policy for enterprises and innovators with a Singapore patent, trademark or registered design, which can cover the legal costs of enforcing IP rights or defending against allegations of IP infringement, covering legal expenses which can often be expensive and detrimental to business cash flows.

The initiative is timely as it comes amid the increasing role of intangible assets in value creation in the global economy. As IPOS noted, global intangible value surpassed US$50 trillion in 2018, making up more than half of the global economy. In advanced economies such as the USA, more than 80% of enterprise value of S&P 500 firms is already in the form of intangible assets. These trends are increasingly driven by Asian economies, with Asian IP filings growing at the compounded average growth rate of 12.7% from 2007 to 2017, twice as fast as the rest of the world.

To complement Singapore's shift towards a digital economy, another programme introduced recently by IPOS also supports innovative enterprises that are looking to bring their Artificial Intelligence (AI) products faster to the global market. The programme, entitled Accelerated Initiative for Artificial Intelligence (AI2) accelerates the application-to-grant process for AI patent applications in as fast as six months.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is identified as one of the key catalysts and drivers as Singapore transforms into a digital economy. As enterprises explore new ways to deploy AI solutions to transform their business and gain a competitive edge, there has been an increasing demand for AI technologies. Keen interest in AI can be observed in worldwide patenting activities where more than 180,000 inventions related to AI were published between 2008 to 2017. Today, AI solutions are commonly deployed in a wide range of sectors including manufacturing, logistics and healthcare.

The AI2 initiative was launched on April 26 2019, World Intellectual Property Day, and will be available for a period of two years. This follows on IPOS' FinTech Fast Track (FTFT) programme which saw grant of its first accelerated patent to Voyager Innovations, a technology company based in Southeast Asia. The FTFT programme enabled Voyager to obtain a patent grant within seven months of filing as opposed to the typical two to four year application-to-grant timeframe.

collopy.jpg

Daniel Collopy


Spruson & Ferguson (Asia) Pte Ltd152 Beach Road#37-05/06 Gateway EastSingapore 189721Tel: +65 6333 7200Fax: +65 6333 7222mail.asia@spruson.comwww.spruson.com

more from across site and SHARED ros bottom lb

More from across our site

Alston & Bird acted for InterDigital, while Samsung was represented by Fish & Richardson, during the arbitration process
Powell Gilbert lawyers reveal how they navigated parallel EPO proceedings and collaborated with European peers to come out on top in the Nordic-Baltic Division’s first judgment
The firms posted increases in revenue and profit per equity partner, with both giving a nod to their IP expertise
EasyGroup, the owner of the easyJet airline, said in a press release that UK-based first-instance judges are “less experienced”, bringing a long-running debate back to the fore
A cross-practice team from Mayer Brown, which included members of the firm’s IP practice, advised on the deal
María Cecilia Romoleroux discusses the challenges she has faced in her career in IP and how she hopes to improve things for the next generation of women
Value-added services give in-house counsel the satisfaction that they are getting more value for money, while law firms get the opportunity to win more work
A team at Boies Schiller Flexner is advising shoe company Kizik and parent company HandsFree Labs in the dispute
Nokia’s latest enforcement actions against Geely and Transsion joining Via LA’s AAC pool were also among the top talking points
Benjamin Kelly, the firm’s fifth IP partner hire in a little over one year, has experience in patent and trade secret disputes involving complex technologies
Gift this article