The South Korean government will set aside 15.4 billion won ($14 million) to help protect the intellectual property of small and midsized exporters, the Korean Intellectual Property Office said Thursday.
The patent office said it has selected 205 promising companies from a total of 845 companies that had applied for the program this year. Among them, 51 companies are developing next-generation technologies, such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, precision medicine and the internet of things, according to KIPO.
Under the program, KIPO will provide the selected firms with support in various areas, including consultations on intellectual property, the application of patents overseas, the analysis of patent and design strategies, and brand development for products and packaging, over the next three years.
“Through the same project last year, many exporters have overcome IP-related challenges, including technology disputes, costs for intellectual property protection and IP strategies,” said Kim Yong-seon, chief of KIPO’s industrial property policy division.
“We will actively push for the project this year to make it contribute to regional economy growth and job creation,” he added.
In February, KIPO announced it would create an intellectual property fund of around 100 billion won to support small and midsized firms, colleges and public research institutes that have outstanding patents.
The 100 billion won will be allocated to a new growth business fund (17 billion won), public patent business (20 billion won), overseas IPs (30 billion won) and IP direct investment (32 billion won).
The new growth business fund will focus on key technologies for the “fourth industrial revolution,” including artificial intelligence, big data and robots.
KIPO said it has financed 160 billion won in the fund of funds from 2006 to 2017 and has so far collected 199 billion won.
By Shin Ji-hye(shinjh@heraldcorp.com)