On the 2nd, Minister Kim Yong-seon said in a New Year's address that "innovation can continue only when an environment is in place where ideas and knowledge receive fair value," and laid out policy directions for 2026: expanding intellectual property (IP) revenue generation, strengthening protection of technology and brands, supporting the transition to artificial intelligence (AI), and building region-based ecosystems.
Minister Kim said of last year that the ministry "focused on establishing a new framework amid organizational changes following the elevation of the Ministry of Intellectual Property," and noted that in external cooperation, the scope of cooperation was broadened by signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Ministry of Economy and Tourism of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on the occasion of a Korea-UAE summit. She also cited overseas business results, including exporting an intellectual property administration model to Uzbekistan.
She also emphasized rights protection and dispute response. She said the ministry is responding to intellectual property crimes through technology police and trademark police and has laid the groundwork to support domestic and international disputes by creating the Intellectual Property Dispute Response Bureau. She cited the activation of IP finance to help corporations raise funds by using patents and other intellectual property as another achievement.
In examinations and trials, she said the focus was on easing the rise in examination wait times. Citing a case in which a patent was registered 19 days after filing through an ultra-fast examination, she said the ministry will expand measures to accelerate rights acquisition for exporting corporations. She added that it is also advancing administrative systems by developing an AI-based examination support model and introducing a digital patent trial system using AI technology.
For this year, she set "commercializing ideas" as the core task. Through the "Ideas for Everyone Project," the ministry plans to link everyday ideas with institutional support and to overhaul the transaction and commercialization framework by adding specialists to the Intellectual Property Exchange and creating transaction and commercialization funds. She also announced a plan to foster specialized corporations that generate revenue overseas by leveraging intellectual property.
Measures for technology security and brand protection were also included. She said the ministry will use patent information to detect early the risk of leaks of national strategic advanced technologies, expand the personnel and scope of the technology police, and pursue institutional improvements such as introducing a Korea-style discovery system. It also previewed the "IP Dispute Doctor," which assesses dispute risks in advance for sectors prone to trademark infringement such as food, beauty, and fashion, and the establishment of an AI-based early warning system for trademark preemption.
In AI, the ministry will build an "AI patent strategy map," link core patent analysis results with industrial strategy, and consider gradually expanding ultra-fast examinations centered on advanced technologies such as AI and bio. On regional policy, it presented a plan to support combining intellectual property with products based on local cultural heritage and to help local governments build self-sustaining ecosystems by establishing comprehensive support centers by region.
Minister Kim said, "The starting point of policy is the field," adding, "We will deliver results that people can feel through continuous communication."