Sharing-Best-Practices Meeting on Smarter IP Office Business Services in Lao PDR
January 2, 2024
From November 20 to 24, 2023, WIPO, together with the Department of Intellectual Property (DIP) of Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR), co-organized a Sharing-Best-Practices Meeting on Smarter IP office Business Services in Vientiane, Lao PDR, with support from Funds-In-Trust Japan Industrial Property Global (FIT/Japan IP Global). The Meeting welcomed 14 officials in person from IP offices in Cambodia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, along with officials from various divisions of the DIP of Lao PDR.
The objectives of the Meeting included (i) to share experiences and exchange policy priorities and best practices in the implementation of digital business services, including presentations of successful case studies from Cambodia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, highlighting the utilization of WIPO business solutions; (ii) to facilitate discussions on innovative approaches and advanced technical tools that can be harnessed to enhance the performance and efficiency of IP offices, including discussions on the latest trends in IP management and technology as well as the challenges and opportunities that these trends present; (iii) to promote the exchange of insights and experiences concerning IP office business practices, aiming at helping identify strategies for the IP offices to effectively adapt to and manage the transition towards digital operations and services; (iv) to provide practical guidance and information on the technical details related to the deployment of WIPO solutions, including customization and administration details for WIPO IPAS, WIPO Publish, and WIPO File, all of which are integral components of online services.
The Meeting welcomed 14 officials in person from IP offices in Cambodia, the Philippines, and Vietnam in addition to officials from various divisions of the DIP of Lao PDR.
In the Meeting, the speaker from the Japan Patent Office provided insights into their digital services and ongoing projects while representatives from Viet Nam shared their comprehensive digital transformation journey.
Officilas from the DIP of Lao PDR provided onsite demonstrations and presentations about their current business services and their operations supported by WIPO-developed systems like IPAS, WIPO Publish, and WIPO File.
On the other hand, representatives from the Philippines delivered a detailed presentation on the challenges, solutions, and changes that were implemented during their digital transformation journey. They also shared information on their ongoing projects to improve existing services and provided details on their paperless process for IP administration and issuing digitally signed official documents.
Cambodian officials presented the current status of their archive room management, ongoing digitization projects, and collaboration with WIPO and FIT/Japan. Additionally, officials from the Cambodia Trademark office provided updates on their efforts to introduce paperless processing for selected official documents.
Throughout the Meeting, participants engaged in a series of informative presentations and interactive sessions. Representatives from each participating IP office shared their experiences and best practices, covering topics such as digital transformation journeys, service offerings, IT infrastructure, and business process challenges. The Meeting also provided a platform for officials to exchange productivity statistics, discuss user feedbacks, and explore potential solutions for overcoming operational challenges.