Answer first: Artificial intelligence has transformed innovation speed and accessibility, making intellectual property a critical strategic asset beyond legal protection. IPOS CEO Tan Kong Hwee emphasizes that companies must leverage IP to build competitive advantages that withstand rapid copying. Singaporean data shows IP rights s…
Patents context for IP teams
Artificial intelligence (AI) has revolutionized the pace and cost of innovation, enabling ideas that once took months to develop to be generated within hours. This rapid development cycle, coupled with the ease of replicating products across markets, has shifted the competitive landscape for businesses. Success now hinges not only on who innovates first but on who can establish and protect a competitive advantage that rivals cannot easily duplicate.
Tan Kong Hwee, chief executive of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), explains that companies that scale successfully differentiate themselves not just by the quality of their ideas but by how effectively they create and safeguard value from those ideas. "This advantage can be driven by technology, data, processes, and branding, just as much as physical assets," Tan notes.
Key takeaways for strategic intellectual property management in AI economy
- Confirm how the development affects patents ownership, enforcement, licensing, or portfolio records.
- Separate confirmed facts from legal interpretation before advising business teams.
- Map deadlines, affected assets, contracts, and evidence files to the responsible internal owner.
- Use the issue as a prompt for monitoring, filing strategy, dispute preparation, or member education.
Practical analysis
Supporting this perspective, an IPOS study of Singaporean firms found that intellectual property rights contributed to a 20.8 percent increase in profit per invested capital per annum and a 21.7 percent increase in profit per employee per annum, after accounting for industry, company size, and location.
Despite these benefits, many businesses continue to view intellectual property primarily as a legal safeguard rather than a strategic business tool. In an AI-driven economy, IP increasingly influences investment decisions, supports international expansion, and strengthens long-term competitiveness.
Tan identifies three underutilized IP strategies that businesses should consider. First, AI has lowered the barriers and costs of product creation, making intangible assets (IAs) more critical for investors assessing a company's long-term competitive edge.
Valuing a firm remains more art than science, but IP can serve as a clear signal of a company's growth potential. Early-stage companies often overlook IP’s role in demonstrating their ambitions to scale, prioritizing speed to market and product development instead. Tan advises firms to begin early by identifying and rigorously documenting their "core value drivers" to avoid missing opportunities to maximize their innovations’ value.
A practical example of this strategic IP approach is Actxa, a Singapore-based healthcare technology company known for developing the step tracker used in the National Steps Challenge. As a deeptech firm, Actxa’s competitive advantage lies beyond its physical devices, rooted instead in proprietary algorithms, clinical datasets, and scientific expertise.
Actxa’s chief scientist, Du Yao, explains that the company integrated IP discipline into its research and development process from the outset rather than treating it as an afterthought. Instead of focusing solely on patents early on, Actxa secured protections aligned with its data-driven model by registering trademarks, implementing rigorous trade secret protocols to safeguard algorithms and methods, and investing in proprietary training data that is difficult to replicate.
This strategic IP management exemplifies how companies can leverage intellectual property not just as a legal shield but as a core business asset that supports innovation, investment, and sustainable growth in the AI economy.
Related IIPLA reading
IPOS Chief Highlights Strategic Role of Intellectual Property in AI-Driven Business Competitiveness Artificial intelligence has transformed innovation speed and accessibility, making intellectual property a critical strategic asset beyond legal protection. IPOS CEO Tan Kong Hwee emphasizes that companies must leverage... Read the full IIPLA blog post: https://iipla.org/blog/ipos-chief-highlights-strategic-role-of-intellectual-property-in-ai-driven-business-competitiveness