Shoura: Patents need to create products
RIYADH: Patented ideas that are not transformed into useful products with scalable economic returns are nothing more than ideas recorded at the Department of Patents with a certificate of no true value, according to the Shoura Council’s Communications and Information Technology Committee.
The proposed system for technology transformation and localization would help in the application of such ideas, patents and inventions and turning them into useful and economical products, the council said.
In the first meeting after the annual holiday of members, which comes to an end after Eid Al- Adha, the council will discuss a proposal for technology transformation and localization put forward by member Fahad Al- Anzi.
The proposed system aims to enhance the understanding and concept of the “knowledge econ- omy” by creating an ideal legislative environment to ensure technology location and transfer in the Kingdom and help realize national goals. The proposed system also calls for creating an environment to attract more investments in the Kingdom, as well as task the monitoring of location and technology transfer to a government agency, like the General Investment Authority.
The proposal comes in response to legal and judicial problems when applying provisions of different laws when transferring localizing technologies or the entry of global companies, as well as expectations of future complications in implementing contracts for these companies.
The system aims to resolve such matters, while the draft incentives and exemption rules offered to foreign investors, such as tax and customs exemptions or imported spare parts for projects, will help in ridding environmental, agricultural, industrial and medical waste. The proposal also includes laws to protect the environment.
The Communications and Information Technology Committee at the council recommended a feasibility study of the proposal in order to bridge the legislative gaps linked to transfer and localization of technologies, as well as to find a system to govern contracts pertaining to technology transfer, which currently are among the most important international contracts.