Ipos, Deloitte to help 100 firms grow intellectual assets and go global

Singapore

THE Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (Ipos) and Deloitte Southeast Asia Financial Advisory Services (Deloitte) have teamed up to help 100 growth-stage enterprises boost their IP strategies and compete globally.

Ipos and Deloitte on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to build companies that are innovation-driven and groom them to become future global market leaders.

The partnership is said to bring together Ipos' technical expertise in IP and Deloitte's global business networks and financial advisory services.

Companies that can look forward to receiving this boost include those in the biomedical and healthcare, manufacturing and engineering, as well as deep tech sectors.

Keoy Soo Earn, executive director and regional managing partner of Deloitte, said the partnership will help more innovative, IP-centric firms scale up and establish a stronger foothold in the global markets by leveraging their intellectual assets.

"Intellectual asset management is an essential component for businesses to remain relevant in this digital era."

Daren Tang, chief executive of Ipos, said: "As Asian economies develop, we are seeing more and more companies where a significant share of their enterprise value is in their intangible assets, including IP."

He added that the partnership will enrich the local innovation ecosystem with the right skills and global networks to help enterprises anchor their ideas in Singapore, monetise their intangible assets, and "springboard to the world".

Under the partnership, Ipos and Deloitte will help companies to:

The MOU, which was signed by Mr Keoy and Mr Tang, took place at IP Week @ SG 2017. The two-day event opened on Tuesday, and is expected to draw 1,700 global attendees to discuss IP commercialisation and strategies for business growth.

In April, Ipos and homegrown private equity firm Makara Capital announced the launch of a S$1 billion Makara Innovation Fund. It is a commercially-driven fund that will invest between S$30 million and S$150 million each across 10-15 IP-rich and high-growth companies globally.