Review of the Activities by the Korea Fund in Trust Seong Joon PARKPermanent Mission of the Rep. of KoreaNov. 5, 2009

*Contents

I. Overview of Korea Funds-in-Trust

II. SWOT Analysis of the Korea Funds-in-Trust

III. Main Activities of the Fiscal Year 2009-2010

IV. Challenges and Future Directions

*I. Overview of Korea Funds-in-Trust Started the first Business Year as of July 1, 2004

Main ObjectivesTo strengthen IP system for economic, social and cultural development To enhance the capacity for administering IPRs To develop HRs and the use of IP for innovation promotion

Up to now, 3.9 million USD

*I. Overview of Korea Funds-in-Trust

No Geographical Limitation

Special Emphasis on LDCsSupport for 14 LDCs both in Asia and Africa

Activities PCT ROAD, Informatization Consultation, Utilization of Patent Information, SMEs Capacity Building, Regional Seminars on IP (Madrid, PCT etc), Patent Mapping, IP Mediation, IP and Competition Policy, IP Panorama Forum, Technology Transfer and Licensing etc.

*II. SWOT Analysis of Korea Funds-in-Trust* Strength - No Geographical limitation - Based on experiences

Weakness - Choice and Concentration - Long Term Perspective

Opportunity - Development Agenda - Increased Role of IP in response to Global issues

Threat - Development Agenda - Limitation of WIPO Mandate

*III. Activities of the Fiscal Year 2009-2010

Dissemination of Appropriate TechnologySupport for Branding StrategiesGlobal Forum on Green Growth

Capacity Building of Business on the Use of IPCapacity Building of LDCs on the Use of Patent InformationTraining Course on Patent Law, etc.

*III. Activities of the Fiscal Year 2009-2010 1. Dissemination of Appropriate Technology Intermediate Technology suitable for local community 2 Expert missions undertaken Technical Needs AP DB Design DeliveryPilot Project : Laos (June, 09), Ethiopia (Dec. 09)

*III. Activities of the Fiscal Year 2009-2010

2. Support for Branding StrategySelection of Products having an Export Potential Setup of Brand Strategy Acquisition of IPRs Intl Recognition2 Expert missions to be undertaken this year - Indonesia (Oct. 09), Tanzania (Dec. 09)

*III. Activities of the Fiscal Year 2009-2010

3. Global Forum on Green Growth The objectives of this activity are a) to explore how environment-friendly development, i.e. Green Growth, can be achieved through the use of the IP system. b) to share national experiences on utilizing IP for sustainable development; and c) to obtain feedback on how WIPO can assist developing countries to leverage IP for achieving Green Growth.organized for 37 high-level policy makers first half of 2010, in Seoul, Republic of Korea.

*IV. Challenges and Future Directions

Traditional Role of IPO and Beyond -> coordination with other public and private entities

Mega projects and Partnership -> extra resources

Real Life IP vs. Geneva Agenda -> more hearing on the grass root needs

Reproduction of Knowledge and experiences -> Active Initiative by Recipient countries

Thank You!

Seong-Joon PARKPermanent Mission of the Rep. of Korea Tel: 41-22-748-0044Seongjoon.park@gmail.com

*Thank you.

[Two Korea Fund in Trust. One is for Industrial Property, the other is for Copyright. This presentation will focus on FIT for Industrial Property.]

Reflecting the time constraint, I will go through this presentation as quickly as possible. The presentation will follow this contents

Overview of Korea Funds in Trust.It is established in 2004 for the improvement of IP system and capacity building for administartion in the developing countries. Up to now about 4 million USD was spend for 74 programs under the Korea FIT. *Korea FIT has no geographical limitation. Although it is operated by the Asia & Pacific Bureau in the WIPO, the activities undertaken by it is not limited to that region.

Korea FIT also emphasis the support for LDCs.

It address the current global issues. Patent module on water purification technology, workshop on technology transfer and licensing have been undertaken in 2009.

Also, Traditional workshop and IP awareness raising activities has been provided. [Such as development of PCT-ROAD, study visit to the leading IPOs, capacity building seminar for SMEs using IP Panorama etc.]*The next one is a brief analysis of Korea FIT.Strength :It has no geographical limitation and the programs are mostly based on or utilizing the experiences that Korea acquired in the course of its development.

Weakness is that those activity and programs are not focused and concentrated on clear target based on long term perspective. Although we provided many technical assistance programs it is difficult to say exactly what is the measurable outcome of this activities. Opportunity is that with the discussion of DA and the global challenge issues, the role of IP has been extended. So, the programs and activity scope of the Korea FIT also could be extended.

Threat: I put the DA again as a threat. Because DA is too politically sensitive agenda, and MS want to have strict scrutiny on every program related to the implementation of the DA recommendation, the discussion in the CDIP is very slow. So, it seems secretariat reluctant to create programs which has any relation to the existing implementation plan. Another threat is limited mandate of the WIPO. Most of the traditional WIPO technical assistance is providing information and education on IP. However, developing countries need more direct supports such as improvement of technical efficiency or promotion of their products. But these support may requires non-IP experties and resources. We need to consider the way to overcome this obstacle. *Based on this analysis, for the 2009/2010, the Korea FIT is focused on the following 3 project. Dissemination of AT, Support for Branding Strategies, Global Forum on Green Growth. But we will continue to undertake other traditional technical assistance for capacity building and training programs.

*The first main project of the Korea FIT in 2009/10 is Dissemination of Appropriate Technology. Appropriate Technology is not a high-end technology but a technology to meet local needs by using local inputs and resources. Examples are here. - Solar heat cooker, foot powered irrigation pump, Life straw which is a water purifier for drinking water and Q-drum, water bucket designed for long distance carry of water by children and women. The basic framework is, first, identify the technical needs suitable for local community and build a DB and then design a product and delivery to the community. For this project we undertook 2 expert missions to Laos and Ethiopia in 2009. As it is initial stage the main tasks were identifying the technical need of the country and providing information. In addition we also consider the designing products based on appropriate technology and delivery of them. However, this go beyond the mandate of WIPO and requires non IP experties. So, we are having further consultation with the WIPO.

*The second one is Support for Branding Strategy. There are many products from developing and Least developed countries which have excellent quality. However, in many cases there products do not have its own brand. Because of the lack of brand the producers, farmers they dont have negotiation power in selling their products. This project is to help developing countries and LDCs set up brand strategy and acquiring international recognition on their products.

During 2009, Korea fund in Trust is plan to undertake 2 expert mission one for Indonesia and the other for Tanzania. Recently expert mission to Indonesia was undertaken and the experts is reviewing the products such as coffee, batik textile, herb.

This project also have similar issues of direct delivery but we are going to have some consultation to overcome this issues. *The third main program is a Global Forum on Green Growth which will be held in 2010 in Korea.

The Objectives of this Forum is to provide a platform for how to make environment-friendly development and sharing national experiences. *Lastly, based on the experience and analysis on the Korea Fund in Trust we suggest following future directions in response to each challenge. First challenge is the limitation of the traditional Role of IPOs. As it is mentioned before, the nature of the technical assistance by IPO are mainly providing information and education rather than direct promotion of their economy. However, countries that Korea FIT focus on need immediate and tangible support for their daily life. Water supply, sanitary, energy, fuel etc. But this direct support, for example direct delivery of the technology and promotion of their product is usually beyond the mandate of IPOs. Because of that I think we need more cooperation with other international organizations, NGOs and private sectors. Secondly, usually direct delivery requires huge amount of financial and human resources. Although WIPO have relatively affluent resources among the UN Agencies, it cannot meets all the necessities of direct supports. It is why we gathered here to mobilize extra resources. Third challenge is the gap between real life IP issues and Geneva Agenda. Most of IPOs in developing countries have urgent needs for the operation of their IPOs and promotion of innovation in their countries. However, discussions in Geneva hardly make progress for the last couples of years. The DA took very long time and even after the creation of CDIP we still could not complete the approval of the implementation plan for the 45 recommendations. While we are making endless political statement here in Geneva, they are facing frustration every minutes. So, we need to listen up the voices of grass roots need from the developing and Least Developed countries. Last one is the difficulties of reproducing the knowledge and experiences by the recipient countries. Although the WIPO provide a lot of technical assistance, it would not work if the knowledge and experience is not reproduced by the people in the recipient countries. Therefore, to achieve development, the recipient countries need to have more initiative and investment to reproduce them provided by the technical assistance. *Thank you for your Attention.