LAST month, the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore announced initiatives to help businesses manage their intellectual property (IP) through free legal advice, patent drafting services and other resources. As businesses of all sizes rely increasingly on innovation, IP is only going to become more important.

The rapidly accelerating patent issuances in the United States illustrate this trend. It took 121 years – from 1790 to 1911 – for the US to issue its one millionth patent. But in just three years, total patents granted grew from 10 million patents as at 2018 to 11 million in 2021. In China, the trend is accelerating faster, with one million patents issued annually.

Until a few years ago, a business’ value was typically determined more often by the physical or financial assets it owned, such as real estate, stock and equipment. Recently, with US$21 trillion or nearly 90 per cent of the value of the S&P 500 represented by intangible assets, more of an organisation’s business value comes from its IP — such as ideas, software, relationships, contracts and institutional knowledge.