Published: 12:30 AM, 27 April 2026
The Role of IPR in Tarique Rahman's Development Plans
Tarique Rahman drives a go-kart built by college student Rizwan Rashid during a demonstration at the Prime Minister's Office, Dhaka. Collected
Every year World Intellectual Property Rights Day is observed on April 26 globally. Marking this day, Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Raman gave a precious speech on IPR Day with guidelines and directives for protecting intellectual properties innovated by youths and startup owners. However, the people surrounding Tarique Rahman did not remind him to include in the speech the valuation of Intellectual Property Rights or IPR which is embedded in the epicenter of safeguarding and promoting intellectual properties.
In the modern knowledge-based economy, IPR serves as a crucial tool for fostering innovation, securing competitive advantages and facilitating economic growth. Startups, driven by innovation, rely heavily on intangible assets for their market positioning and survival.
Industry stakeholders emphasize the necessity of a standardized IPR Valuation Framework. In advanced economies, such as those in the European Union (EU) and North America, governments facilitate a near 100% valuation of intellectual assets, allowing them to function as viable collateral for capital acquisition. Even in Asia, countries like Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and some other ASEAN member countries add higher value to intellectual property rights whereas in Bangladesh the banking system attaches very unremarkable value to intellect-based innovations. This is one of the major reasons why startups and innovation are not flourishing in Bangladesh. The governments that ruled Bangladesh in the past did more rhetoric than required actions which is why the idea and exercise of IPR made very little progress in our country.
This structural adjustment is particularly urgent keeping in view the mounting influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI), where domain expertise and intellectual capital supersede physical infrastructure. Lyricists, composers, authors, poets, musicians, painters, singers, recital artistes etcetera in our country cannot get their creative works protected under intellectual property laws. For this reason intellect-based creations are often mishandled. In Bangladesh it is every now and then observed that research papers, books, statistical data, surveys and so on are cited without acknowledgement of the original sources. This is a vice known as 'plagiarism' which violates the basic codes of IPR. These forms of ignorance and indifference pose grim threats to justice for people's intellectual capabilities. Most of the institutions are unaware of these legal obligations regarding IPR which causes business enterprises difficulties to acquire legal bulwark for their intellectual brainchild. Not just that, attracting investments under these circumstances turns out to be very tough.
The introduction of "Sports Cards" and athlete allowances represents an effort to institutionalize the sports industry as a sustainable professional career path. It can enhance athlete training methodologies and sports-tech development and utilize IPR to fortify sports branding, broadcasting rights and digital content distribution.
Streamlining online registration and legal enforcement mechanisms to combat copyright infringement and counterfeiting is necessary. The World Intellectual Property Organization defines IPR as the "rights given to persons over the creations of their minds". These rights grant creators the ability to control and commercialize their innovations, preventing unauthorized use. For startups, whose primary assets are often intangible--such as proprietary technology, unique business models or creative content--IPR functions as both a shield against imitation and a sword for market expansion.
In today's dynamic world of entrepreneurship and rapid technological progress, innovation serves as a vital pillar for business success. Startups, with their fresh ideas and outside-the-box solutions, often lead this wave of transformation. Nevertheless, merely developing innovative solutions isn't enough--safeguarding them is equally vital. This is where Intellectual Property Rights become important.
IPR encompasses various legal protections, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, industrial designs, geographical indications and trade secrets. Startups often introduce unconventional technologies or creative solutions that differentiate them from established contestants. These innovations are usually the result of significant spending in time, money and resources. Without legal protections, competitors could replicate these ideas, potentially undermining the startup's market entry and long-term viability.
Some of the noteworthy treaties and agreements centering on startups and IPR include TRIPS Agreement which sets minimum IPR protection standards for World Trade Organization (WTO) members. Paris Convention and Berne Conventions are another two identical accords which facilitate priority filing for patents and trademarks and protects copyrights internationally whereas Bangladesh is totally devoid of such pacts or instruments for defending entrepreneurs, scientists, industrialists and tech firms.
Tarique Rahman affirmed in his speech that the Bangladesh government is working with the best of its efforts to evaluate the creative qualities of the country's citizens. The Prime Minister finds it delightful that Bangladesh is now filled with resourceful youths. He laid emphasis on building up an efficient, sophisticated and simplified system through which innovators, researchers, entrepreneurs and people with aesthetic knacks can get their assignments done very swiftly and aptly. It will lead to fast tracked socioeconomic advancement all over Bangladesh, Tarique Rahman stated.
The Prime Minister assured in his speech that strong steps have been taken in the meantime to identify counterfeit goods and to speed up online registrations, faster delivery of services, fortifying legal bulwark and to secure international recognition for commodities that bear Bangladesh's heritage and diversity.
Right after getting elected in February 2026, the BNP-led government pledged that they will create jobs for 20 million youths.
It should be noted that Intellectual Property Rights are not merely legal constructs. They are strategic assets that can determine the trajectory of a startup. In an increasingly knowledge-driven economy, the ability to protect, manage and monetize innovation is indispensable to a startup's success.
Startups that prioritize intellectual assets are better equipped to impress investors, to scale up sustainably and to compete globally. As the startup ecosystem continues to expand, fostering intellectual properties (IP) awareness and building robust IP strategies will be essential for sustaining innovation and driving long-term impact. We believe the present government led by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman can drive Bangladesh forward in terms of intellectual assets' safety and appropriate value addition. While ending up this article, a few lines from a poem by our National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam can be recollected "Ushar Duare Hani Aghat, Amra Anibo Ranga Provat (Hitting on the door of daybreak, we will bring about a crimson dawn).
Shoeb Chowdhury is Chairman, Editorial Board of The Asian Age.
