The Government will introduce a financing scheme to allow local companies to use their intellectual property as a collateral when applying for bank loans.

With a budget to the tune of "tens of millions" of dollars, the Government will partially underwrite the value of patents used as collateral in the event of default.

This was among a slew of measures announced Monday as part of the Government's 10-year masterplan to develop Singapore as a global intellectual property (IP) hub.

The masterplan was created by an IP Steering Committee after consulting with more than 200 IP professionals from over 100 local and foreign companies. The steering committee was created last May and submitted their recommendations to the Government in March. Its recommendations were accepted.

The plan identifies three strategic outcomes for Singapore: To become a hub for intellectual property transactions and management, granting high-quality patents and dispute resolution.

To achieve these outcomes, a joint programme between the Economic Development Board and the Ministry of Law will be set up to promote quality IP ownership.

Other measures announced today include a $50 million investment by the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore to build up patent search and examination capabilities here. Such capabilities are needed to assess patent applications to decide if the patent can be granted.