The Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property, in partnership with the World Intellectual Property Organization, today launched the first phase of the National Network of Intellectual Property (IP) Support Centers. Today's launch officially establishes 21 centers in five regions of the Kingdom; Makkah, Al-Madinah, the Eastern Province, Al-Qassim and the capital, Riyadh. Each IP Support Center is designed to better serve the Kingdom's inventors, innovators and entrepreneurs with direct access to scientific and technological information from national databases. IP Support Centers can also provide them with the IP-related services they need to accelerate the growth of their ideas, and protect them when they have taken form. During today's inaugural launch, six agreements of cooperation were signed. King Abdulaziz University, Taibah University, King Fahad Medical City and the Saudi Health Council joined the National Network, representing the government sector while Effat University and the I-be Company represented the private sector, in the presence of SAIP CEO Dr. Abdulaziz bin Muhammad Al-Swailem and Mossadak Hussain, representative of WIPO. Public awareness about the importance of Intellectual Property is on the rise. This indicates that the general concept of IP can be used to further promote the idea that intellectual property is a type of asset that can, in the right environment, be converted into intellectual capital which has a positive impact on the global economy, in general, and the national economy, in particular. The Kingdom's best and brightest people can count on the IP Support Centers to assist them in generating and utilizing their intellectual property rights, in accordance with global best practices.
