The Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) has allocated a RM500,000 fund for school and university students in the country to register their intellectual properties (IP) this year, said Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin.

He said the ministry had been strongly encouraging the students to be creative and to patent their products before being commercialised.

"The cost to register intellectual properties is very high, which is RM1,500 and that''s why we are allocating a special fund.

"We will assess all applications to register the intellectual properties via a new application,"he told reporters after the closing ceremony of ''IP Funtastic'' programme at SMK Sungai Bayor near Selama here today.

A total of 30 students from the school participated in the two-day programme, organised by MyIPO, which was aimed at producing creative and technology-savvy entrepreneurs.

The event saw students and teachers being exposed to application design technology and websites through coding to develop own IPs, which were then uploaded to ''IP for Youngsters'' portal and mobile application that gathers the creative works by students in the country.

-- BERNAMA