law & policies

law & policies

Open Innovation: a term introduced by Henry Chesbrough,
professor and executive director at the Center for Open Innovation at University of California, Berkeley.

TRADITIONAL/ CLOSED INNOVATION

The smart people in our field work for us. To profit from R&D, we must discover it, develop it and ship it ourselves. If we discover it ourselves, we will get it to market first. The company that gets an innovation to market first will win. If we create the most and the best ideas in the industry, we will win. We should control our innovation process, so that our competitors dont profit from our ideas.

OPEN INNOVATION
Not all the smart people work for us. We need to work with smart people inside and outside our company. External R&D can create significant value; internal R&D is needed to claim some portion of that value. We dont have to originate the research to profit from it. Building a better business model is better than getting to market first. If we make the best use of internal and external ideas, we will win. We should profit from others use of our innovation project, and we should buy others IP whenever it advances our own business model.

(From left to right), Mr Yap Chew Loong, Eploit Technologies, Dr Christian Schamper, Fraunhofer Institute, Ms Loria B. Yeadon, Honeywell, Mr Yehuda Yarmut, Hebrew University, Mr S Iswaran, Senior MOS, Mr Kris V. Srikrishnan, IBM, Mr Peter Jaco, OrbisIP Limited, Ms Yena Lim, A*Star, Mr Benson Ang, NTU, Ms Kristen Leute, Stanford University, Dr. Kentaro Totsu, Tohoku University, Ms Emily Loughran, UCLA, Mr John McEntire, UIUC, Dr Tapio Koivu, VTT Ventures

Mr S Iswaran, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry with Dr Sze Tiam Lin, Head of Exploit-IP Program and SVP of Exploit Technologies Commercialisation/ In-Licensing Division.

IP Spree
I

Ms Yena Lim, Managing Director of A*Star (left) engaging an enthusiastic participant at the TechLicensing Fair.

Manufacturing) and another in logistics and healthcare. The events bring together partners of the Exploit-IP program with potentially interested companies. Some of its partners include technology giants IBM and Honeywell, research centres VTT Technical Research Center of Finland and A*Star itself, and schools In a bid to boost IP involvement, Exploit Technologies, such as Stanford University, Tohoku University and the marketing and commercialisation arm of the Agency Nanyang Technological University. All in all, some for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star), has 30 technology partners are estimated to be on board launched the Exploit-IP Program. Supported by the the program, from the Asia-Pacific, North America, Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), it offers local Europe and the Middle East. enterprises access to various companies IP. The first TechLicensing event saw partners promoting their IP, innovations and R&D to By Lyana Shah Singapore enterprises, and experts talking on key issues such as intellectual asset management, valuation of IP, deal structuring and licensing best t was the first of a total five TechLicensing fairs to be held practices. Some 200 participants were on the scene to browse by Exploit Technologies this year. Kicking off on 27 March and learn while Minister of State for Trade and Industry S. at A*Star, the inaugural TechLicensing fair focused on Iswaran who spoke on the importance of companies looking infocommunications and media. Later fairs are slated for June beyond their organisational boundaries for ideas and IP to (Materials, Food Processing and Chemical fields), September help their business grow. We have to ascend the value chain (Energy and Environment) and November (Electronics and by adopting an open mindset towards the sourcing of IP and

Case Study
Company: Haruna Pte Ltd Business: Develops paint and coating with features such as heat insulation and fire protection. Success Story: In 2007, Haruna received a licence from A*STAR for titanium dioxide (TiO2) to produce a self-cleaning paint that minimises resources wasted on maintenance. The new product helped differentiate Haruna from other paint manufacturers, giving it a competitive edge.

technology for me especially meeting international technology providers and I rate it a triple-A event. Exploit Technologies is also developing a web portal for its program to list available IPs according to their technological category. Found at www.exploit-IP.com, there is information on each technology, plus potential applications and market trends. Mr. Boon Swan Foo, Executive Chairman of Exploit Technologies, commented, The Exploit-IP Program brings tangible benefits to Singapore enterprises, especially the SMEs, through the creation of a vibrant IP marketplace. At the same time, we understand the technology offerings of our overseas partners as well. Exploit Technologies will also help to facilitate the transfer and translation of these IP into product roadmap of the companies." TE

A Helping Hand

innovations in the global market place. Companies and R&D organisations must embrace pen Innovation when it comes to IP development and management. They must not be coy about in-licensing complementary technologies developed elsewhere in order to create a more robust product. Similarly, they must unlock their untapped IP and innovations to others who might better capture the potential value. Robin Low, Managing Director and CEO of ARB Technologies Pte Ltd said, It is an eye-opener for me and I have found it a perfect platform for SMEs to embrace and adopt technology. It is a beneficial springboard into available

The Government has announced several R&D tax initiatives to help companies on their innovation path including: Tax deductions for R&D expenditure in Singapore increased from 100% to 150%. So for every $100,000 of local R&D spending, a company will be able to deduct $150,000 from its taxable income. Companies will be granted R&D tax allowances each year, up to
50% of the first $300,000 of their chargeable income.

Turning R&D into marketable products usually takes time, during

which the new company may have no taxable income. A new incentive, called R&D Incentive for Start-Up Enterprises (or RISE), will allow them to immediately convert these losses into a cash grant of up to about $20,000, so long as they spend at least $150,000 on R&D that year in Singapore.

30 THE EXECUTIVE MAY 2008

MAY 2008 THE EXECUTIVE 31