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Grants for IP

12 Sep 2024

GRANTS AVAILABLE TO LOCAL COMPANIES TO DEFRAY ELIGIBLE IP COSTS

In today’s competitive business landscape, protecting your company’s Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) is important. Registration of IPR can be costly and may seem daunting at first. This is the reason many companies are hesitant to protect their IPR.

It is possible for local companies in Singapore to apply for grants to help defray eligible IP costs.

The Enterprise Development Grant and the Market Readiness Assistance are two such grants administered by Enterprise Singapore.

Enterprise Development Grant (EDG)

Companies seeking to upgrade their businesses, innovate or venture overseas can apply to defray eligible costs with the EDG.

Local SMEs can receive up to 50% support for EDG. Sustainability-related projects may be supported at up to 70% from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2026 (Read the following link for details on this program). 

To qualify for the EDG, your company must :-

  • Be a business entity registered and operating in Singapore
  • Has at least 30% local equity held directly or indirectly by Singaporean(s) and/or Singapore PR(s), determined by the ultimate individual ownership
  • Be financially ready to start and complete the project
The EDG supports projects that help you upgrade your business, innovate or venture overseas, under three categories: -
  • Core Capabilities
  • Innovation and Productivity
  • Market Access

As an example, your company may apply for the EDG under the Innovation and Productivity category through product development. Review of IP considerations, such as IP/Trade Secrets protection, IP strategy, and Freedom to Operate analysis may be covered under such a category.

For more information on the EDG and the application procedure, please read this link.

Market Readiness Assistance (MRA)

Companies seeking to market products and services overseas can defray up to 50% of eligible costs through the MRA grant.

The MRA grant assists companies expanding into new markets overseas by defraying the costs of overseas market promotion, business development and set-up.

To qualify, your company must:-

  • Be a business entity registered and operating in Singapore
  • Has at least 30% local equity held directly or indirectly by Singaporean(s) and/or Singapore PR(s), determined by the ultimate individual ownership
  • Be financially ready to start and complete the project
  • New to target overseas market
  • The company’s annual sales in the target market must not have exceeded S$100,000 in any of the preceding three years
  • Group Annual Sales Turnover not exceeding S$100 million OR a Group employment size not exceeding 200 employees
Furthermore, each MRA grant application is limited to one activity in a single overseas market. Retrospective applications (i.e., project has started, payment has been made, or a contract has been signed with the consultant/vendor prior to application submission) are not permitted.

Applications should only be submitted 6 months or less prior to the project start date. 

The support is capped at S$100,000 per company per new market and covers activities under three of the following pillars:
  • Overseas market promotion (capped at S$20,000)
  • Overseas business development (capped at S$50,000)
  • Overseas market set-up (capped at S$30,000)

IP protection overseas may be covered under Market Entry in the “Overseas market set-up” pillar. The table below which is extracted from the MRA website, provides more information on the types of activities that may be supported by the MRA. Notably, the costs of IP registration in Singapore are not covered by the MRA.

Grants-for-IP.jpg
Source: https://www.enterprisesg.gov.sg/financial-support/market-readiness-assistance-grant

For more information on the MRA and the application procedure, please read this link.

In addition to the aforementioned grants, companies in Singapore may also be keen to note that they may be entitled to apply for tax reductions / allowances under the Enterprise Innovation Scheme (EIS) if they meet the criteria on qualifying expenditure incurred on qualifying activities. For example, research and development activities conducted in Singapore, registration, acquisition and licensing of IPR, and training via approved courses will now enjoy a 400 per cent tax deduction on the first S$400,000 of qualifying expenditure. Collaborative innovation with certain institutions will also enjoy the tax deduction of S$50,000. Click on this link to find out more about the EIS.

With the various grants and/or tax reductions, local companies should consider applying for such grants and tax reductions, before making business decisions to forego protecting their IPR.

- Written by Melanie Yun, Patent Agent at Drew & Napier LLC

Disclaimer: This article reflects the author's own views and opinions. The content in this article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute any legal advice.