Daren Tang

Daren Tang Heng Shim (born 1972;^[1] Chinese: 邓鸿森^[2]) is the fifth and current Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). He is also Secretary-General of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV). Tang previously headed the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) and was a trade lawyer for the government of Singapore.

Daren Tang
邓鸿森
Tang in 2024
5th Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 October 2020
Preceded by	Francis Gurry
Chief Executive of Intellectual Property Office of Singapore
In office November 2015 – July 2020
Succeeded by	Rena Lee
Personal details
Born	1972 (age 51–52) Singapore
Alma mater	National University of Singapore Georgetown University

Education

Tang holds a degree from the Faculty of Law of the National University of Singapore, and a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the Georgetown University Law Center.^[3]

Career

Lawyer

Tang served as a trade lawyer and was a lead Singapore negotiator for the eventual United States-Singapore Free Trade Agreement signed May 6, 2003. Tang also led IP negotiations for Singapore in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and the European Union-Singapore free trade agreement.^[4]

Chief Executive of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore

From November 2015 to July 2020, Tang was Chief Executive of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS).^[5][6][3] While head of IPOS, Tang chaired WIPO's Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights.^[7]

He was succeeded as CEO of IPOS by Rena Lee.

World Intellectual Property Organization Director General

Candidacy

On 4 March 2020, Tang won the nomination for the post of Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), with the backing of the United States^[5][6][8][9] and 54 other countries over China's preferred candidate, Wang Binying,^[10] who received 28 votes out of the 83 voting members of the WIPO Coordination Committee.^[11] On 8 May 2020, Tang was confirmed by the WIPO General Assembly before officially assuming his functions on 1 October 2020.^[12]

Tenure

Tang took office as World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Director General on October 1, 2020, beginning a six-year term. In his acceptance speech, Tang said: “WIPO must work towards a vibrant and forward-looking global intellectual property (IP) ecosystem. It must help the world broaden its perspective of IP beyond its legal and technical aspects to its powerful role as a supporter of entrepreneurs and enterprises, catalyst for investments, driver of economic growth and a promoter of social vibrancy.”^[13]

Tang's administration presented to WIPO's member states a medium-term strategic plan to guide the organization's work through 2026. Under the plan, the WIPO secretariat would work more closely with smaller enterprises and individual innovators and creators, who have previously been underserved by the global intellectual property ecosystem. Youth would be a particular focus. The plan aims for WIPO to continue the provision of high-quality^{[peacock prose]} international IP filing services for patents, trademarks, designs and other IP rights while maintaining fiscal prudence and supporting Member States in their negotiations.^[14] Tang's administration launched a new “IP and Innovation Ecosystems Sector” to focus on 'intellectual property commercialization'.^[15]

The ultimate purpose of IP is to change people's lives for the better, help entrepreneurs grow their businesses, improve society, and contribute to economic development. Daren Tang, 2021^[16]

Personal life

Tang is an accomplished pianist with a love of jazz.^[17] He has authored a book on tea under a pen name.^[18]

References

1. "Curriculum Vitae of Mr Daren Tang" (PDF). WIPO. 6 November 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
2. "新加坡的邓鸿森被任命为产权组织总干事". www.wipo.int (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2020-05-17.
3. "Appointment of new Chief Executive, Intellectual Property Office of Singapore". ipos.gov.sg. IPOS. 6 November 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
4. "Singaporean Daren Tang set to head UN intellectual property agency WIPO". CNA. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
5. "WIPO's Coordination Committee Nominates Singapore's Daren Tang for Post of Director General (PR/2020/846)". WIPO. Geneva. 4 March 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
6. "WIPO Director General Congratulates Singapore's Daren Tang on Nomination for Post of Director General". WIPO. 5 March 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
7. "Rena Lee to succeed Daren Tang as chief executive of Singapore's IP office". CNA. 19 June 2020. Archived from the original on 23 June 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
8. Cumming-Bruce, Nick (4 March 2020). "U.S.-Backed Candidate for Global Tech Post Beats China's Nominee". The New York Times. Geneva. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
9. See Kit, Tang (5 March 2020). "Singaporean Daren Tang set to head UN intellectual property agency WIPO". CNA. Archived from the original on 4 June 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
10. Magnier, Mark (5 March 2020). "Singapore official beats China in votes for UN intellectual property unit". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 9 May 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
11. "WIPO's Coordination Committee Nominates Singapore's Daren Tang for Post of Director General". Retrieved 29 April 2021.
12. Ho, Grace (8 May 2020). "IPOS chief Daren Tang becomes first Singaporean to helm global intellectual property agency". The Straits Times. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
13. "Daren Tang Assumes Functions as WIPO Director General". www.wipo.int. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
14. "WIPO Program and Budget Committee: MEDIUM-TERM STRATEGIC PLAN (MTSP) 2022-2026" (PDF). WIPO. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-09-08.
15. huizhen (2021-08-24). "Harnessing IP to build back better". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
16. Wilkof, Neil. "IPKat in conversation with Mr. Daren Tang, Director General of WIPO: "We are on the cusp of something different"". The IPKat. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
17. "Darren Tang message to musicians". WIPO. Archived from the original on 2021-06-03.
18. Wilkof, Neil. "Special interview with the Chief Executive of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore on new one billion dollar innovation fund (and more)". The IPKat. Retrieved 2021-09-08.

Positions in intergovernmental organisations
Preceded by Francis Gurry	Director General of World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) 2020–	Succeeded by Incumbent