Taiwan inventors are getting a much-needed leg up in securing patent protection for their creations and turning them into products under an NT$11.8 billion (US$407 million) plan overseen by the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
“Many Taiwanese win recognition for their creativity at international design competitions but fail to convert these achievements into products,” MOEA officials said Aug. 9. “This program will create more homegrown success stories.”
According to the MOEA, inventors are receiving the bulk of their legal and product development advice from the government-funded Industrial Technology Research Institute’s Technology Transfer Center.
Since opening last August, the center has provided patent advice to 643 applicants and assisted 1,415 corporations in setting up development relationships with academic institutions. A total of NT$3.59 billion in private investment has been generated through these efforts.
Several noteworthy products developed with the center’s assistance include an exercise bike that connects to game consoles and a transparent nasal filtration device. The former is expected to generate global revenues of NT$1.5 billion, with the latter in the NT$30 million range.
TTC Director-General Benjamin Wang said of the 20,000 cases handled by the center, around 6 percent have become products in the marketplace. “This number is fairly high and underscores the program’s value,” he added.
Wang said another key goal of the program is to eliminate the incidence of international lawsuits stemming from alleged patent infringements, especially in the field of information communications technology.
“Plans are afoot to establish a management fund to assist firms and individuals in obtaining patents at home and abroad. In addition, it can be used to fund defenses in infringement suits.”
Wang believes the fund will cut down on the occurrence of high-profile patent infringement cases such as the one involving Taiwan’s HTC Corp. and U.S-based Apple Inc.
Write to Aaron Hsu at pj1210meister@mail.gio.gov.tw