Korea Invention Promotion Association Gets Technology Trust Management License, Opening the Door to IP Transactions and Commercialization

[Financial News] The Korea Invention Promotion Association has been licensed to manage technology assets, including patents, on behalf of their owners and oversee their commercialization through its technology trust management business.
The Korea Invention Promotion Association said on the 26th that it had obtained a license for technology trust management from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy under the Act on the Promotion of Technology Transfer and Commercialization.
Technology trust management is a system under which technologies and patent rights held by SMEs, venture companies, universities, public research institutions and individual researchers are placed in trust for systematic management and protection. The entrusted technologies are transferred and commercialized by being assigned to companies that need them or by granting them rights to use the technologies, and the resulting proceeds are returned to the trustors.
The scope of technology trust management defined by law is broader than this. The law defines it as a business that receives technologies and the rights to use them in trust from technology owners and performs management functions such as establishing and transferring rights, collecting and distributing royalties, further developing technologies, and securitizing technology assets. In other words, the system can extend beyond simple brokerage to include financing and investment backed by technology.
The Korea Invention Promotion Association’s Intellectual Property Exchange, which has brokered around 500 technology transactions annually, now has the legal and institutional foundation to provide comprehensive support throughout the process, from signing trust agreements and maintaining and protecting rights to connecting buyers and sellers, concluding transaction agreements, and managing and settling proceeds. Its role as a “comprehensive, full-lifecycle management platform for technology assets” is expected to grow as a result.
Many research institutions in Korea have struggled to transfer technology or commercialize it despite having outstanding technologies and patents, due to a lack of marketing capabilities and dedicated staff, as well as low confidence in transactions. The Korea Invention Promotion Association plans to use the trust system to provide legal protection for rights holders’ intellectual property while drawing on its network of IP transaction specialists and private-sector transaction agencies to connect buyers and sellers.
The Korea Invention Promotion Association also plans to apply to its technology trust business the expertise it has built up in its online patent analysis and evaluation system (SMART5), operating an intellectual property (IP) transaction platform, and supporting IP finance. It plans to first analyze and value patents covering entrusted technologies, then use the results in technology transfers and commercialization by companies seeking the technologies to maximize the market value of technology assets.
Kim Si-hyeong, executive vice chairman of the Korea Invention Promotion Association, said, “This license is the result of national recognition of the association’s expertise and its high level of trust as a public institution.” He added, “We will help idle technologies lying dormant in the market and outstanding patents receive fair value and be commercialized quickly, building a virtuous-cycle ecosystem for transactions and commercialization in which technology owners and companies seeking technology grow together.”
Meanwhile, if the technology trust system becomes more widespread, it is expected to give a boost to the IP securitization finance market, where funds are raised using patent rights as collateral or future royalty income as a basis. Deep-tech startups and SMEs with outstanding IP but limited financial resources will be able to attract investment based on valuations of their entrusted technology assets or readily secure commercialization funding from financial institutions. This is expected to help establish a virtuous cycle in which technology development leads to tangible industrial outcomes and company revenue.

[email protected] Kim Won-jun Reporter