Gwangju Seo-gu 'Intellectual Property Rights Support Project' Promotion

Seo-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City (Mayor Kim Ikang) announced on the 21st that it will promote the 'Intellectual Property Rights Acquisition (IP Direct Support Service) Support Project' targeting small and medium-sized enterprises in the district.

Seo-gu encourages intellectual property applications by providing consulting on domestic and international intellectual property creation for new technologies and new products, as well as support for application costs.

Since 2017, Seo-gu has supported about 10 companies annually through the Intellectual Property Rights Acquisition Project.

Exterior view of Seogu Office Building
[Photo by Seogu]

Last year, Seo-gu supported a total of 15 intellectual property services, including 1 patent, 8 designs, and 6 brand developments, establishing customized vision strategies based on each company's needs and issue diagnosis. As a result, sales increased by 105% and employment by 112% compared to before the support.

This year, Seo-gu, in collaboration with the Gwangju branch of the Korea Invention Promotion Association (Gwangju Intellectual Property Center), will provide consulting through corporate IP issue diagnosis up to 2 cases per company, and support intellectual property rights acquisition project costs of up to 20 million KRW in total, including expenses for patent maps, design and brand development, and production of patent technology promotional videos.

Companies wishing to participate can receive application forms from the Gwangju Intellectual Property Center and submit the project implementation (utilization) plan and various supporting documents online by September 29.

A Seo-gu official said, "We hope this project will be a great help to small and medium-sized enterprises that have excellent technologies and products but have difficulty applying for and registering intellectual property due to lack of funds and experience."

Shin Dongho, Honam Reporting Headquarters, Asia Economy baekok@asiae.co.kr