Korea World Patent (IP) Hub National Promotion Committee Co-CEO “Kwang-Hyung Lee Vice-Chancellor of KAIST” Intellectual property is my way and Koreas way

Korea World Patent (IP) Hub National Promotion Committee Co-CEO “Kwang-Hyung Lee Vice-Chancellor of KAIST”

On 23rd in commemoration of the publish of WIP-news which held an announcement ceremony on the 10th under the slogan ‘Korea IP News to the World World IP News to Korea’ we met Lee Kwang-hyung who is a KAIST Vice-President and co-representative of the Promotion Committee of World Patent (IP) hub state (hereafter referred to as ‘promotion committee’) and talked about the current status of the ‘Promotion Committee’ and the direction of WIP-news as a global intellectual property portal.

Vice-President Lee Kwang-hyung is not enough to describe him with numerous modifiers such as “The Godfather of KAIST Venture Startups” “A freaky professor who watches TV upside down” and “A pioneer in the study of Korean futurism”.

His name was known as a ‘The Cradle of Star-Ventures’ when he was a professor in the department of computer science at KAIST in the 1990s by producing Korea venture entrepreneurs of first-generation such as Kim Jeong-ju (Nexon) Kim Young-dal (IDIS) Kim Joon-hwa (Olaworks) and Shin Seung-woo (Neowiz). In 2001 he founded while insisting composition of ‘bio and info-communication’. At that time there was great opposition within the university but now it has developed into a representative department of KAIST.

Afterwards he has filled a director of KAIST International Cooperation and dean of Academic Affairs leading the establishment of the graduate school of Intellectual property and the graduate school of science journalism in 2009 and founded the graduate school of future studies the first research institute in Korea in 2003. Each time he faced great opposition but it was proved that he was ahead of his time after the lapse of time. Since 2015 he has published that suggests the direction of the Korean society every year. From 2020 he has been the vice-president of KAIST Academic Affairs chair-visiting professor and a member of the Presidential Council of National Education.

Since 2013 as a joint representative of the Korea World Patent (IP) Hub National Promotion Committee he has been making a lot of efforts to make Korea an intellectual property powerhouse.


Q1. Please give your impression about continuing a co-representative of the World Patent (IP) Hub National Promotion Committee.

▲ Vice-President Lee Kwang-Hyung : In the meantime I have been co-representing three members in the National Assembly along with Rep. Jeong Gap-yoon of the United Future Party and Rep. Won Hye-young of the Democratic Party. I was left along because the two of them were not running for the 21st National Assembly. However considering the continuity of the promotion committee I decided to continue a post as a private representative. Together with Rep. Lee Sang-min and Rep. Seo Byung-soo who are newly nominated as co-representatives we will continue to strive to establish a patent hub state.

Q2. As we know you run educational programs not only at schools but also at related institutions and works with members of the National Assembly. How are the works going?

▲ Vice-President Lee Kwang-Hyung : In collaboration with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups the Patent Court and the Korean Intellectual Property Office the KAIST Intellectual Property Strategy Highest Course (AIP) has been started. In addition the National Assembly has operated the highest course of National Future Strategy during three years for members of the National Assembly from 2014. The 21st National Assembly is also planning to open lectures at the National Assembly again.

Q3. I am wondering if there is any idea like ‘I want to lead’ the Promotion Committee of World Patent (IP) Hub State in the future.

▲ Vice-President Lee Kwang-Hyung : So far the promotion committee is focused on passing the most basic legal amendments for patent protection. Now we will try to apply the property protection system implemented in the patent law to the marks and design fields.

Q4. In the terms of numbers Korea ranks fourth in the global intellectual property market with 200000 patents per year after China (1380000) US (600000) and Japan (310000) but there are many opinions that there are little patents to use and the system for revitalization is still in its infancy. How do you feel about these points?

▲ Vice-President Lee Kwang-Hyung : It means that the quality of patents is poor it has that side. The invalidity percentage of patent is over 50%. This also means that at the time of filing preparing an application and examination should be conducted faithfully and trial based on the patent protection policy and judgement are required.

Q5. Last time the World Patent (IP) Hub State promotion committee claims such ideas like establishing a separate department to integrate and manage national intellectual property policies newly establishing the intellectual property secretary in the Blue House and establishing the Ministry of Intellectual Property or the Office of intellectual Property. What do you think about those ideas?

▲ Vice-President Lee Kwang-Hyung : Currently government ministries related to intellectual property are dispersed and the strong will of the regime is not expressed. In that context there was a proposal for intellectual property governance. I think the justification of this argument remains valid now.

Q6. ‘WIP-news’ (CEO Kim Soo-Woo) was created to easily inform the public of intellectual property and help Korea become a patent hub state in the world. It was started on July 10 as an intellectual property news platform that provides Korea’s best intellectual property news through various world media in local language and IP-related news selected by the world media in Korean. What kind of role you would like WIP-news to play in the future please give us any advice or comment.

▲ Vice-President Lee Kwang-Hyung : In order for the Republic of Korea to jump one step further to become a truly advanced country it must become a national management system centered on intellectual property. It is difficult to create good intellectual property if intellectual property is neglected as in the present. These days public awareness on intellectual property is very important. Of course the emergence of media to deliver news about intellectual property to the pubic and raising awareness is very encouraging so it is expected to be a great contribution for the country.

Q7. What is intellectual property to you and how would you describe intellectual property in one sentence?

▲ Vice-President Lee Kwang-Hyung : Intellectual property is the ‘way’ to me. So far I have been walking the path of intellectual property and it is my way to go and Korea’s way.

Q8. If you have any wishes or orders for WIP-news which focuses on world intellectual property please tell us. I will actively reflect your opinion.

▲ Vice-President Lee Kwang-Hyung : I hope that you will provide news that will give the public a new awareness of the importance of intellectual property. There could be no fourth industrial revolution in Korea after the COIVD-19 without intellectual property. Please provide news related intellectual property in other counties that compete with us. In order to reduce the patent invalidity percentage which exceeds 50% please lead the changes in the perception of the people concerned. Thank you.

Conducting an interview in KAIST Vice-president’s Office (from left Vice President Lee Kwang-Hyung Steering Committee Park Jin-Ha Representative Reporter Kim Soo-woo)

Website: : http://www.wip-news.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=3382