A two-day Train the Trainers Program for Patent Managers and Trainers was conducted by the Japan Patent Office (JPO) for the ASEAN IP Academy on 21-22 October 2021.

This inaugural Train the Trainer program gathered 23 Patent Managers and Trainers from the ASEAN IP Offices for this online training. The Asean IP academy is a virtual platform intended to provide customized IP training for the AMS. This includes Train the trainer programs which are intended to build up the capabilities of IP officials and trainers in the region to conduct training internally and be equipped with the necessary skill sets to be a full fledge trainer.  The Asean IP Academy is a collaborative initiative and welcome the support from other partners and IP offices such as JPO which has the expertise to share such training.

Mr Looi Teck Kheong, Head of Competition, Consumer Protection and IPR Division (CCPID) of the ASEAN Secretariat, in his opening remarks thanked the JPO for their commitment and support to the ASEAN region. He also said, “The JPO is one of our Dialogue Partners and has always been among the first to provide support for our IPR initiatives.”

 In the opening remarks from JPO, Ms. Takaoka Hiromi, Director of Heterocyclic Compounds Sub-Division congratulated the ASEAN Member States (AMS) on the setting up of the ASEAN IP Academy and expressed JPO’s appreciation to be able to provide Train the Trainers program for the ASEAN IP Academy. She also highlighted that these programmes further strengthen the relationship between ASEAN and the JPO.

 The two-day program provided a good balance between technical training and development of soft skills for the participants. The topics discussed included Operations Management, Quality Management and Human Resource Development. The training session also emphasized the importance of On the Job training (OJT) for new patent examiners as well as on the use of Artificial Intelligence in supporting Patent operations in the JPO.

 There was an active question and answer session each day and among others, the questions posed were related to the use of AI to support patent examination process as well as HRD aspects of managing teams of examiners and the career path of patent examiners.

Moving ahead, the next Train the Trainers Program to be conducted for the ASEAN IP Academy would be organised the EU IP Office (EUIPO) in November 2021 and will focus on equipping trainers from AMS with the necessary soft skills to conduct training for their respective IP Offices.