The global economy is undergoing a major shift. For a nation to be competitive it must strengthen its research agenda, become innovative, strengthen and protect its intellectual property, and find resources for the continuing education of its citizens. IN a global market economy, a company's competitive success depends heavily on the information and know-ledge it possesses, whether it is in the skills of its employees or in the results of its research. Therefore, there is a natural rush to create knowledge, improve skills and convert them into assets, preferably in the form of patents. This is especially true in industry sectors such as biotechnology where initial investments are high, required knowledge and skill levels are at the cutting edge, and the costs of copying by experts are low. For example, Korea and Singapore have become acutely conscious of the fact that in order to stay economically viable, their industries must upgrade from being investmentdriven to being innovation-driven. This essentially means dealing with cuttingedge research and protecting intellectual property (IP). ukryj opis