How the Newcastle University lion met the Singapore Merlion

Jan 15 2008 By The Journal

THE Newcastle University Singapore Translational Research Initiative intends to create a development facility to change the frame of reference for technology transfer and communication in its international context.

The basic premise of the Singaporean programme is to ensure that we lift the university’s intellectual property aspirations to a truly global perspective.

The development will establish a self-sustaining commercial interface with the global technology market – NUIdeasBank Pte Ltd being the commercial vehicle created to enable this function. Singapore could act as an IP Hub, and play a significant role in the technological, economic, and social development of the North East and Singapore in parallel.

Newcastle University has committed £1.1m to the establishment of the translational research initiative across three years, and is requesting a development grant of £2.8m from the Economic Development Board of Singapore over the first six years of a nine-year programme.

The final outcome will be a sustainable venture headquartered in Singapore, and which will have a combined impact across our technological, social, and economic landscapes. In this way we will construct a platform, which can then be further developed and enhanced through partnerships with other research institutes, and thus continue to broaden our base and build the future.

The basic premise of the Singaporean development is to ensure that we lift our intellectual property aspirations to a truly international perspective.

The economics of the intellectual property landscape in the UK and the availability of R&D partners in the region (and indeed the UK) means that many areas of intellectual property will not be exploited effectively.

By developing an international dimension we will increase the likelihood of securing major partners and of exploiting the cost base advantages available elsewhere.

For example, tax breaks and grant funding available in Singapore reduces the potential cost of high quality post-doctoral researchers in Singapore to a third of that in the UK; whilst further reductions in costs can be gained in Malaysia, India and China. The intellectual property protection in those countries is still developing.

There are a number of reasons why the university has focused on Singapore. It is a country recognised as a hub of global economic development in South East Asia and its government is ambitious to develop its knowledge economy by working with successful universities in the West.

The university has estimated that the cost of translating research in Singapore will be between half and one-third of that in the UK and will also be achieved much more rapidly. In addition, Singapore has for many years been an important source of student recruitment for the university.

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Protect your rights and take early advice on IP

THE importance of intellectual property (IP) in the current and future role played by Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) in the economy of North East England is vital and should not be overlooked or underestimated in terms of both job and wealth creation for the region.

Every successful North-East England business owns valuable IP rights, whether it is the business name, branded products or services, patented technology, confidential information or know-how, sophisticated software or licensed technology. The same is true for KIBS businesses. But are their IP rights being properly protected, exploited and enforced?

Identifying your IP rights is clearly the starting point. In a recent publication entitled From Edison to iPod: Protect your Ideas and Make Money, the author Dr Frederick Mostert sets out a number of important questions for businesses:

Do you know what IP rights you own?

• Do you know if your key IP rights are registered?

• Do all your commercial agreements properly define your IP rights?

• Do you monitor the activities of your competitors to see if they are infringing your IP rights?

• Do you take action against misuse of your IP rights?

If answers to any of the above are “no” or “don’t know”, businesses should be concerned, not least because at some point many businesses, both large and small, new and established, either look for funding or for an exit.

Ask any of the region’s serial entrepreneurs and they will tell you that a would-be funder or a prospective purchaser is more likely to walk away from a deal if the business seeking funding or which is to be sold has not taken active steps to identify its IP rights, not registered those rights that can be protected, and not actively enforced its rights against unauthorised use of those rights.

To address this, increasingly businesses of all sizes are becoming aware of the value gained in taking early advice on best practice to ensure the consistent and appropriate capture, protection and exploitation of IP rights, as well as enforcement of those rights, adding real value to their businesses.

Ed Meikle is Head of Intellectual Property at Watson Burton LLP.