Hanoi (VNA) - Valuation of intellectual property remains a greyarea in Vietnam and can be improved only with support from authorities, expertshave told a recent workshop held in Ho Chi Minh City.

Speaking at the workshop on "Valuation of intellectual property fromoutcome of scientific research" held by the National Office ofIntellectual Property and the city's Department of Science and Technology, theysaid intellectual property is the key to innovation and development.

But assessing of the value of technological intellectual property is quitedifficult, they said.

For researchers, completing the legal procedures is a difficult task, andofficial agencies should support them in this task, they said.

A lot of research is done, but researchers and scientists do not focus onregistering intellectual property rights for protection, and this needs tochange, they said.

According to experts, the valuation of intellectual property is based on threemethods, market based (by reference to comparable market transactions), costbased (the cost to create or the cost to replace a given asset) and incomebased (based on estimates of past and future economic benefits).

Nguyen Huu Can, deputy director of the Vietnam Intellectual Property ResearchInstitute, said intellectual property value is a decisive factor for consumersin choosing products and services with "special features".

The usage value of intellectual property assets is only known when they arecommercialised, he said.

The workshop provided a good platform for State management agencies to discussand evaluate results, limitations and challenges to the valuation ofintellectual property and at the same time find ways for valuation, he said.

Vo Hung Son, head of the intellectual property management department at thecity's Department of Science and Technology, said to determine the profitsgenerated from the use of scientific and technological research outcomes, thevaluation should be made when transferring the right to use the outcomes.-VNA