- Korean and global experts, including Professor Clinton Francis of the United States, participating in the "2012 Conference on The Development of Intellectual Property Human Capital" emphasized the importance of fostering IP manpower
- Three people, including Professor Kug-sun Hong of Seoul National University, were awarded the "IP Education Grand Prize of the Republic of Korea"


In a knowledge-based era, IP human capital is a core factor in production. Korea's future competitiveness will depend on how well it fosters IP human capital," said Professor Clinton Francis of the Northwestern University School of Law, United States, who has led the research on integrated IP education for over 30 years.

Throughout the conference held at the Imperial Palace Hotel in Seoul on June 14, roughly 200 Korean experts from the Presidential Council on IP, the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), universities, and companies gathered with international IP education experts to draw up measures to foster IP human capital. Both Korean and international experts emphasized the need to invest in fostering IP human capital equipped with the capacity to create and use IP rights (IPRs) combined with expert knowledge of their majoring fields.

In particular, Professor Francis of the United States and experts in IP education from Japan, Germany, China, and the United States stressed the importance of fostering human capital capable of creating wealth through IPRs and of providing education to promote the integration of technology, business management, and creativity in IPRs.

Also at the conference, the first “IP Education Grand Prize of the Republic of Korea” was awarded to three individuals including Professor Kug-sun Hong of Seoul National University, who have contributed to the spread of IP education in Korea. Professor Hong was also honored with the Chairman of the Presidential Council on IP Award. Additionally, Professor Seung-chul Choi of Ajou University and Professor Young-ho Cho of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) were presented with the KIPO Commissioner Awards.

Hong said of his award, “I faced many difficulties in starting to provide IP education with the replacement of a previous course in my major field with opening of a lecture on IP. Efforts have to be made to build the education infrastructure for universities to autonomously provide IP education.”

KIPO Commissioner Ho-won Kim emphasized, “In today’s knowledge-based era wherein IP is vital for a country’s strength and development, the competitiveness of a country’s IP lies in its people." He continued, “We will pursue the fostering of integrated human capital equipped with not only IP knowledge, but also creativity and expertise as a major project in the future.”