Setting the Roadmap for Digital Intellectual Property Services

Pakistan's intellectual property ecosystem protects the ideas its economy is built on, and strengthening it now means rebuilding how those protections are delivered.

The Pakistan Digital Authority (PDA) convened a strategic meeting with the Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan (IPO) and the Ministry of Commerce to advance the digital transformation and modernisation of intellectual property services.

Dr. Sohail Munir, Chairperson, PDA, emphasised that effective digital transformation begins with re-engineering business processes, defining clear requirements and ownership, and establishing appropriate Service Level Agreements before technology is implemented.

The discussions established a structured roadmap and the following key areas of collaboration:

• ERP and SAP adoption. Facilitation of IPO's engagement with the National ERP Implementation Initiative and exploration of SAP-based solutions.
• Digital transformation assessment. PDA technical teams will undertake a comprehensive review of IPO's functions, operations and business processes to develop an appropriate roadmap.
• Regulatory and process modernisation. Review and modernisation of relevant laws, business processes and fee structures relating to trademarks and patents.
• Machine-readable legislation. Transition of applicable rules, regulations and standards into machine-readable formats to enable implementation through RegTech.
• National Super App integration. Identification of IPO services, requirements and use cases for integration with the National Super App, incorporated at the platform design and procurement stage.

PDA and IPO will continue close coordination to translate these initiatives into delivery.

An intellectual property system is a promise that an idea will be recognised and protected. With this collaboration, PDA and IPO will rebuild how that promise gets kept.