– Expected to bring more benefits to developing countries through IP Sharing Project-
KIPO Commissioner Choi Donggyu announced that KIPO opened the Herbal Essential Oil Research Center at the Syiah Kuala University of Indonesia on December 8th, 2016 as part of its IP Sharing Project.
The opening ceremony was attended by around 100 participants, including Lim Hyun-suk, Director of KIPO’s Multilateral Affairs Division, Amhar Abubakar, lieutenant governor of the Aceh Province, Dr. Nazamuddin, Vice Rector of the Syiah Kuala University, Baek Inhong, Director of the Korea Invention Promotion Association, and a Memorandum of Understanding on Research Cooperation was signed at the ceremony.
KIPO has developed and disseminated appropriate technologies extracted from information of about 270 million patents to assist developing countries. KIPO has been providing its assistance to other countries in need by using expired patents, to help solve day-to-day problems and increase household income.
Since 2010, KIPO has developed and disseminated 15 appropriate technologies in 11 countries. In addition, in order to add value to products, KIPO has been involved in the development of 12 brands in 10 developing countries.
In 2016, KIPO provided the Indonesian province, Aceh, with technology which extracts oil from Patchouli, a type of herb grown in this area. The old oil extractor was susceptible to rust and produced oil of uneven quality. However, the new oil extractor exploit 5 different technologies that were extracted after reviewing 590 patent documents.
To help village people sell patchouli oil products in the market, KIPO developed a brand for patchouli oil. Isfani Yunus, President of Aceh Patchouli Forum said that KIPO-developed oil extractors are easy to use and produce high quality oil, thus, the patchouli oil brand will help bring more income to the local people.
Director General Park Seong-Joon of KIPO’s Intellectual Property Protection & International Cooperation Bureau said that KIPO’s Appropriate Technology development model is providing a vision of hope through intellectual property, and he went on to say that KIPO will continue to reduce the IP divide through its IP sharing projects and to bridge the gap between developed and developing countries.