IP Bridge (IPB) is casting its eyes towards ASEAN. IPB was founded with the strong support of the Innovation Network Corporation Japan, growing to manage an intellectual property (IP) fund reaching 30 billion yen. IPB’s mission is to promote Open Innovation, by discovering un- or under-utilized IP, and then being the bridge between the owner of these IP with those that could best commercialize with these IP. IPB is paying close attention to ASEAN because it includes over 600 million people, with an overall high sustained GDP growth rate, and from IPB’s experience with local companies expressing their strong interest in utilizing Japanese IP.

　There are several reasons why Japanese IP were not utilized overseas. These primarily include the inability or lack of awareness of many Japanese companies to assess the value of their IP, especially small and medium sized entities’ difficulty in ascertaining what needs for their IP exist among the ASEAN countries. Another obstacle is that companies are deeply skeptical of developing countries’ ability to protect and enforce IP rights.

【Discovering the Needs on behalf of Companies】

　For these reasons, IPB is assessing the IP needs on behalf of Japanese corporations, as well as providing various advice to protect themselves. For example, by establishing a joint venture or forming a business partnership with a local company in exchange for an equity interest ensures that there will be a relationship that allows for perpetually generating profits. “Japanese companies traditionally exported goods or expanded into developing countries to benefit from these countries’ growth, but we seek to create a future where both sides can grow by sharing IP,” IPB President Yoshii said.

　IPB’s current operation centers around Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. In addition to the relationship IPB built with the government of Singapore, Malaysia Digital Economy Corp. (a government entity whose mission is to promote domestic IT) and IPB signed a Memorandum of Understanding this year, on October 3rd. IPB focused on Malaysia because of the impressive development of domestic IT companies that possess their own unique technologies, the growth of financial services that support entrepreneurialism, as well as the continuous maturation of their patent system over years of support from the Japanese Patent Office.

　President Yoshii’s policy is to emphasize not the theory of capital, but the theory of IP. Under the theory of capital, IP aggregates towards an entity with greater capital, which uses the IP to produce profit, which in turn grows that entity’s capital. However, under the theory of IP, every entity is codependent on one another, sharing ideas and technologies, like a true ecosystem, to generate profits and allowing for great many innovations to be made. Additionally, as Japanese companies focus on their core businesses and divest unneeded IP, President Yoshii is enthusiastic about making full use of these IP and their associated and experienced engineers. He points out that “being divested and discarded does not necessarily mean that they are in any way inferior,” and expressed his desire to find the right places for these technologies to shine.

The original article appeared in ASEAN Economic Journal on October 31, 2016.