The Ministry of Economy announced the results of the UAE’s intellectual property (IP) sector performance during the first nine months of 2024. The registration of intellectual property, trademarks, patents, and utility certificates experienced remarkable growth, confirming the success of the national efforts to establish an environment that stimulates innovation; develop proactive policies; nurture innovators and entrepreneurs; and support R&D in various economic and scientific fields.
H.E. Abdullah Ahmed Al Saleh, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy, said that the latest results reflect the success of the country’s approach to building a comprehensive and integrated ecosystem to protect IP rights according to the highest global standards. This also establishes the role of knowledge and creativity in economic growth through the development of legislation and the launch of specialized and comprehensive initiatives for all relevant industrial and creative economic sectors.
H.E. Al Saleh pointed out that the Ministry of Economy, in collaboration with its partners from the public and private sectors, is committed to providing all enablers for the growth of the sector and enhancing its competitiveness, in accordance with the strategic objectives of the Ministry aimed at achieving leadership in innovation and intellectual property rights. This is in line with the targets of the ‘We the UAE 2031’ vision, which aims to make the UAE one of the top 10 countries globally in attracting and retaining global talent.
In the first nine months of 2024, the total number of intellectual property registrations in the UAE increased by 34.3 percent, while trademark registrations saw a growth of 39.12 percent. The number of registered patents, utility certificates, and industrial designs rose by 8 per cent compared to the same period in 2023.The efforts to ensure the protection of intellectual property rights and creative works in the UAE recorded significant growth during the first nine months of 2024, with the number of registered intellectual property works during this period reaching 1,884, compared to 1,402 IP registrations during the same period last year. This takes the total number of registered intellectual property works in the country to 20,389.
There has also been a growing demand for intellectual property registration across various economic, scientific, and technological sectors, as the Ministry of Economy received 1,946 applications, reflecting a growth rate of 53.23 percent compared to 1,270 applications during the same period last year. The service for reporting violations of intellectual property rights received 153 applications, while the service for registering importers and distributors of IP received 209 applications, showing a 26.67 per cent growth.
UAE attracts more than 18,000 trademarks
The UAE attracted 18,175 trademarks till September 2024, reflecting a growth of 39 per cent compared to the same period last year. The Ministry of Economy received 24,258 trademark registration applications and 8,171 inquiries about trademarks, taking the total number of trademarks operating in the UAE’s markets to 356,408 by the end of September 2024.
UAE’s entrepreneurial environment continues to attract inventors & owners of innovative ideas
The latest results also demonstrate the growth in the number of patents, utility certificates, and industrial designs during the period from January to the end of September 2024, with the total number registered in the country reaching 15,051, an increase of 8 per cent. The number of registration applications reached 3,489, reflecting a growth of 3.8 per cent compared to the same period last year.
From the beginning of January until the end of September this year, the Ministry of Economy received 2,586 applications for patent registration, 17 applications for utility certificate registration, and 886 applications for industrial design registration. The total number of patents registered in the country reached 5,697 with a growth of approximately 12 per cent, while the cumulative number of industrial designs reached 9,340, with 5.7 per cent growth.
