• Intellectual property management is growing significantly in the country: patent applications have increased by 30% in the last 10 years, with 3,214 applications in the Superintendence of Commerce and Industry, while trademark applications in Colombia have doubled from 36,493 in 2013 to 73,315 applications in 2022.

• “With what we have achieved so far, we are embarking on a path of greater challenges in services so that our clients can make the most of the potential of innovation and intellectual property to grow and compete on the global market,” says Claudia Caro, Director of PONS IP Colombia.

The PONS IP Office in Colombia has celebrated the tenth anniversary of its commitment to Latin America as a strategic market with the creation in August 2013 of the Latam Desk, which brought with it the opening of its own office in Bogotá. This important anniversary for the intellectual property consulting firm represents the consolidation of PONS IP’s commitment to accompany the most innovative companies both in Colombia and on the South American continent. Ten years after the start of its internationalisation phase, PONS IP is already an important benchmark in the region for its support to public entities and companies in the management and protection of their intangible assets through its Latam Desk.

The meeting, with the attendance of both clients and a large representation of personalities from the innovation ecosystem such as government representatives, accelerators, universities and numerous PONS IP partners, took place within the framework of the Forum “Challenges and Opportunities for Innovative Colombia” organised jointly with APD Colombia and held in the Compensar Auditorium in the Andean capital, with the special participation of the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce.

The General Manager of PONS IP, Nuria Marcos, gave a positive assessment of the last decade of the company in the country and, thanking the contribution of the team at the Office in Colombia, which already has 10 professionals, she analysed the challenges and opportunities to promote innovation in innovative Colombia from intellectual property.

Before the invited attendees, the general manager pointed out that Colombia, as one of the main centres of economic development in Latin America, “is also today one of the countries that is most committed to R&D as a driving force of economic growth, as the data show. Since we arrived in 2013, and thanks to our team at PONS IP, we have witnessed a growing commitment by the country to promote its growth through innovation and, in recent years, to combine it with the development of policies to increase the projection of these intangible assets through intellectual property in the area”. The head of PONS IP concluded her speech by recalling that “although there are still important challenges on the horizon, we believe that we must give continuity and further develop access policies and regulatory simplification, as well as public investment to raise awareness among companies of the strategic value of intellectual property. Although there is still a long way to go as a country, we are optimistic about the future of innovation in Colombia if we all, administrations, public entities and companies, walk towards this shared goal together”.

For her part, Claudia Caro, Director of PONS IP Colombia, thanked PONS IP for its confidence in the project and also highlighted the role of her team in the growth of the consultancy firm in the country. “We will continue to work on strengthening our clients’ assets. Now that we have come this far, we are presented with a range of opportunities and new challenges. We want our clients to be able to make the most of the potential of innovation and intellectual property to grow and compete on the global market. For this, we have a great team in Colombia that works for the purpose of serving and supporting the interests of our clients as our own,” said Caro.

Over the last 10 years, PONS IP Colombia has managed to establish important alliances with leading public and private entities in the promotion of R&D&I in the country. As a result of these alliances, it has been a service provider in calls for public resources, such as 4gro Conexiones Inteligentes, Actívate Valle, Crearlo no es Suficiente, Centros del Valle del Software, Distrito Innova, SwissContact, Ruta N Medellín and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and the Colombian National Planning Department. In addition, they have continued to raise awareness about and promote intellectual property culture, working hand in hand with the Observatory of Creative and Cultural Economy, the National Institute of Cancerology-ESES, ProSur and Impact Hub of Medellín, among others.

The successful positioning of the global intellectual property consulting firm in Latin America has been accompanied by very positive intellectual property activity data in the region in recent years. According to Colombia’s Superintendence of Commerce and Industry, between 2013 and 2022, patent applications grew by 30% to 3,214. Within this percentage, 40% came from companies and public entities in the Andean country. In parallel, and as a clear indicator of the notable increase in business activity, trademark applications in Colombia have doubled in 2022 compared to the last ten years, going from 36,493 in 2013 to 73,315 applications.