IP 2.0 Fund receives encouraging response; Half this year's allocation disbursed

BENTONG, Sept 20 (Bernama) -- The Intellectual Property Filing Fund 2.0 (1P 2.0 Fund) has received an encouraging response, with RM504,869 of the RM1 million allocation this year having been disbursed, said Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister, Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi.

He said that thus far, the IP 2.0 Fund has benefited 1,181 recipients, while another 401 are still in the screening process, with products such as cosmetics and food being among the highest receiving funds.

“We encourage more entrepreneurs to seize the opportunity to get the remaining RM495,130, to file an intellectual property application at MyIPO to obtain exclusive rights, while protecting the intellectual property of their products.

“Applications are still open for trademarks, patents, industrial designs, copyrights and geographical indications. These include funding for official intellectual property filing fees, search costs and drafting by appointed patent agents, for patent applications and utility renewals,” he said.

He said this at a press conference after officiating the Innovative Youth: Keluarga Malaysia Aspirations with Students from the Bentong Mara Junior Science College (MRSM) and Bentong district schools programme here today, which was attended by 700 students from 11 educational institutions in the district.

Also present were the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDNHEP)’s secretary-general Datuk Azman Mohd Yusof; the Malaysian Intellectual Property Corporation (MyIPO) director-general Abdul Haris Laka; Pahang MARA director Soffian Mustafa and state KPDNHEP director, Datuk Mark Ujin.

Nanta also expressed hope that MyIPO will further promote the IP 2.0 Fund, since the government has allocated a total of RM4 million for its implementation under the 12th Malaysia Plan, for a period of four years starting this year.

Commenting on today’s programme, Nanta said it was part of MyIPO's initiative to provide early and comprehensive exposure to intellectual property to the target group from a young age.

Taking into account the achievements of school students, who are increasingly active in innovation until they succeed at the international level, Nanta hopes that the school will also take proactive steps to file their intellectual property applications, in addition to being able to apply for the IP 2.0 Fund for that purpose.

Nanta cited an example in Maryam Muzamir, 11, who won two gold medals at the international level through her winning invention of patented sustainable livestock feed made out of shrimp and sea snail shells and the prowess of 360 MRSM students nationwide in the 2022 MRSM Robo Challenge competition.

“As long as innovation results are not filed for intellectual property protection, they can be imitated by irresponsible parties, while giving space to those parties to exploit student innovation results,” he stressed.

Nanta said that the Bentong MRSM has been selected for today’s programme, as it was the first educational institution to introduce technical subjects, and hoped that the programme can be expanded to more schools so that the importance of intellectual property protection can be more widely publicised.

Also at the event, Nanta approved the allocation of RM3,000 to each institution that participated today, to be used in the development of inventions or innovations in the respective schools.

-- BERNAMA