RIYADH: Saudi-Korean relations continue to flourish, including in the field of intellectual property as the two nations thrive during a troubling year. The Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property (SAIP) has been active since its inception in 2017 and has signed agreements with the US Patent and Trademark Office, the Japan Patent Office and the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO). Speaking to Arab News, Dr. Yongrae Kim, commissioner at KIPO, said that his office has been the key partner for SAIP in implementing initiatives in areas such as establishing national IP strategies, nurturing IP specialists and developing an IP automation system. Kim said that IP provided businesses with an incentive to create new values to achieve growth in quantity and quality based on innovation, and created values that would lead to their success. “This then eventually contributes to the nation’s efforts to boost national competitiveness. With the understanding of such a significant role that intellectual property plays, many countries are putting their resources in to develop national IP strategies to further improve their economic environment,” he said. With the continued spread of COVID-19 affecting the global economy, Kim said there had been initial concern over a possible shrinkage or slowdown in innovation efforts, especially in IP filing activities. “Despite this gloomy speculation, we’ve witnessed a steady increase in the flow of incoming IP applications filed domestically on contact or contactless technologies and services,” he said. “Surprisingly, the total number of IP filings in Korea this year has risen compared to last year, and as far as I understand, a similar trend is being found in other countries, too.” Kim thinks that this is in part due to the prompt support measures taken by many IP offices around the world to mitigate impacts on their users and applicants and protect their rights. “So, to ensure the continuity in innovation, SAIP and KIPO, for example, have entitled COVID-19-related applications to go through accelerated examination, and reduced fees and extended the time limits on certain actions for affected applicants.” Kim said that the COVID-19 pandemic is fueling digital transformation across all economic and industrial sectors, and also promoting changes in the landscape of global trade such as the expansion of protectionism, growth of digital trade and reshaping of the global value chain. Kim believes that IP offices now need to gear up for accelerating digital transformation. “Social distancing has almost become a part of life, and people voluntarily and somehow forcibly spend more of their lives online. This new lifestyle is contributing to the creation of and access to a myriad of data, which will potentially drive significant growth in AI technology and AI-related patent filing.” He added that IP will increasingly serve as the key factor in corporate competitiveness. “The more movement is limited and digital economy gains traction, the more the importance of IP as a safeguard of core technologies and brand power will be recognized,” he said. According to the commissioner, there will be a greater emphasis on intellectual property post-COVID, which will serve as a valuable driver to add more value in products and services across the industrial value chain — from research, production, distribution to consumption, and in creating new business opportunities. “I believe that making it a reality depends in large part on a successful establishment of a solid virtuous cycle among the creation, protection and utilization of intellectual property. This is the environment where individual and enterprise innovators can keep their creative activities that bring value,” he said. Kim said that KIPO commended the enthusiastic efforts the leadership and SAIP had taken to refine their national IP strategies, which he believes is very timely and likely to have a great ripple effect. “This is what KIPO and SAIP have in common — both organizations work hard to improve our legal and institutional systems to build a healthy IP ecosystem where valuable, useful, reliable intellectual property rights are fairly protected and used and licensed in the market. Knowing the significance of what we are doing, KIPO and SAIP will continue and strengthen our cooperation in the future toward the realization of such aspirations,” he said.