During the trip, the WIPO official discussed with Vietnamese officials specific programs and activities to strengthen mutual cooperation and WIPO’s support to Vietnam in the use of intellectual property as a tool to promote innovation.

At the meeting with representatives of the National Office of Intellectual Property (Ministry of Science and Technology), he said that he was impressed with Vietnam's economic growth, especially in the context of the pandemic.

Vietnam ranks first in the group of 34 low-middle-income countries in the Global Innovation Index (GII). It is also the first country to apply and convert the global innovation index into the provincial innovation index.

To promote the development of intellectual property, he recommended that Vietnam pay attention to three target groups, including young people, women and small and medium sized enterprises.

The group of small and medium enterprises accounts for 98% of the total number of enterprises in Vietnam. This rate is higher than the average for developing countries (95%). The WIPO representative said that intellectual property is closely related to the development of small and medium enterprises.

Besides patents, intellectual property is also significant in protecting trademarks, industrial designs and geographical indications of products. Raising awareness of intellectual property is therefore very important for businesses, especially small and medium enterprises.

For the remaining two target groups, Vietnam currently has 25% of the population aged 15-30, while more than 60% of Vietnam's small and medium enterprises are owned by women. Therefore, these are two groups that need special awareness of intellectual property.

WIPO will support Vietnam in using intellectual property as a tool to promote innovation. To do that, WIPO wants to establish a training institute on intellectual property in Vietnam.

Currently, WIPO has 12 similar facilities in the world. In Vietnam, WIPO will support the operation of this institute in the early years, then completely transfer it to the host country and be ready to advise if there is a request.

The WIPO Deputy General Director also signed a Memorandum of Understanding and launched the Intellectual Property Training Program for diplomats and trade negotiators.

Trong Dat