IPOS chief officially appointed to top job at Wipo, to start on Oct 1

THE Intellectual Property Office of Singapore's (IPOS) chief executive Daren Tang has been officially appointed as the next director general of the World Intellectual Property Organization (Wipo).

Wipo is the United Nations' specialised agency responsible for intellectual property (IP) services, policy, information and cooperation.

Mr Tang's role will be effective on Oct 1 for a term of six years, Singapore's Ministry of Law (MinLaw) - which IPOS falls under - announced on Friday.

Mr Tang is the first Singaporean to helm the UN agency and Wipo's first director general from Asia. He will succeed Australia's Francis Gurry.

News of Mr Tang's nomination to be the new Wipo director general emerged in March, when The Business Times reported that he had been selected from a slate which originally comprised 10 candidates.

His nomination anchors Singapore's international standing as a hub for strong IP enforcement and dispute resolution, said industry players at the time.

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Mr Tang will step down from his role as IPOS chief, MinLaw added. During his time at IPOS, he drove the strategic transformation of the statutory board from an IP registry and regulator into an innovation agency that helps build Singapore's future economy.

His term also saw major updates to the Republic's IP Hub Masterplan, legislative and policy reforms to the IP regime, and the scaling up of international engagement.

Senior Minister of State (Law and Health) Edwin Tong said Singapore's IP ecosystem flourished under Mr Tang's term.

"Singapore has risen in ranks to become second globally and top in Asia for the best IP protection in the World Economic Forum's global competitiveness report," he added.

IPOS board chairman Stanley Lai said: "IPOS remains committed as an active member of the international IP community, and we will continue to partner and support the important work of Wipo."