UNS — The Directorate of Intellectual Property Development for Creative Industries, the Deputy of Digital Economy and Creative Products, Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (Kemenparekraf) of the Republic of Indonesia, in collaboration with Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta, held intellectual property dissemination and registration assistance for tourism and creative economy business actors. This activity was organized by the Innovation and Intellectual Property Rights Division, the Directorate of Innovation and Downstream UNS, at Swiss-Belhotel Solo (Thursday, 16/6/2022). This activity was initiated due to the lack of intellectual property registration carried out by tourism and creative economy business actors because of limited knowledge and quite expensive costs.

Attended by the Director of Creative Industry Intellectual Property Development, Kemenparekraf, Dr. Robinson H. Sinaga, and UNS Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation Affairs, Prof. Kuncoro Diharjo, the event successfully invited the participation of 125 tourism and creative economy actors in Solo City. In his remark, Prof. Kuncoro said that Solo became the last city in this intellectual property dissemination and assistance program.

Previously, there were three cities selected for the program implementation, such as Jayapura, Gorontalo, and Palembang. For this occasion, Solo received the highest assistance quota for 125 entrepreneurs. This allowance is much greater than in other cities with only 75 participants. “This assistance is important because the products protected by IPR, when it was imitated by others, and it is registered as your right, then you will be legally protected. The product’s economic value will increase. For instance, if you have an original batik design and was IPR registered, the design which originally priced at 500 thousand can reach up to 1 million in selling price,” he said.

Prof. Kuncoro hopes that all the material delivered can be well received and used as an asset in the next product development. He also said that UNS is very open to MSME entrepreneurs who want to collaborate in registering their intellectual property. In 2021, there were more than 600 IPRs registered with UNS assistance.

Meanwhile, Dr. Robinson H. Sinaga said that Solo was chosen as one of the program implementation sites because it has a high potential for tourism and creative industries development. “Solo has enormous potential, so we provide financial and administrative assistance. For trademark registrations, it usually costs 1.8 million, this amount will be funded by the Kemenparekraf. We will also assist in the process of filling out plenty of administrative forms,” he explained.

He further elaborates that the limited knowledge of IPR made many applicants fail at the administrative stage. Therefore, this activity includes interview sessions to ensure the types of IPR that need to get registered. “We conduct experts interview to ensure their (MSMEs’ entrepreneurs) needs are not mistaken because of the substantial types of IPR. For example, what category they shall apply in,” he added. Humas UNS

Reporter: Bayu Aji Prasetya
Editor: Dwi Hastuti