Innovation in Saudi Arabia and Global Export: Building an IP Strategy That Travels with Your Product

Saudi Arabia’s innovation boom

Saudi Arabia has experienced a recent innovation boom. Saudi R&D spending has consistently increased over recent years, from SAR 19.2 billion in 2022 to SAR 22.6 billion in 2023 and about SAR 29.5 billion in 2024 according to the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT). Additionally, patent filings are also growing sharply. The Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property (SAIP) received 10,300 patent applications in 2025, up from 8,029 in 2024. The National IP Strategy, launched in 2022, is formally one of the enablers of Vision 2030.

As well as growing innovation locally, the Kingdom, via the National Industrial Strategy, is also targeting increasing non-oil exports. It aims to raise exports of advanced technology products and industrial exports to SAR 557 billion. The priority sectors for such export-driven technologies include chemicals and specialty materials, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, renewable energy equipment, advanced materials, and circular-carbon technologies, such as CO₂ utilization, hydrogen and clean ammonia.

Therefore, the money, policy support and local patent filing activity are largely in place to support local innovation and export. The open question for founders is whether their patent protection will follow their product into the markets where it will earn revenue.

Why IP strategy must map onto the commercial plan

A patent can be used to stop competitors only in the country in which it is granted. For example, a Saudi patent alone does nothing against a copier who makes the product in Japan and sells it in the US. Therefore, patent applications need to be filed in all countries of commercial importance. However, the more patent applications you file, the more expensive your IP strategy becomes. Additionally, there are disclosure rules and filing deadlines to consider, meaning that there are only certain windows for making these decisions and filing these patent applications.

Consequently, it is imperative to build the IP plan in line with the business plan. For example, the following are key commercial questions that should drive every filing decision:

• Are there any planned public disclosures, including your own launch, conference presentation or sales? The first-filed priority patent application must be filed before any public disclosure is made to ensure the disclosure doesn’t impact the patentability of the patent application.
• Where and by whom is the technology developed? This affects who owns the invention (employees, universities, co-development partners) and may impact licenses or assignments required. It can also affect where you must file first; some countries require a security clearance before an invention made there can be filed abroad, or if the inventors are of certain nationalities.
• Where will it be manufactured? Patents in manufacturing countries let you stop infringing production at source. This matters especially for process inventions in chemistry, where the copier’s factory may be the only place the infringement can be seen.
• Where will it be marketed and sold? Patents in your largest revenue markets protect your profitability and margins and give you leverage in customs actions and distribution negotiations.
• Where are likely partners and licensees based? Licensees will pay for rights only in countries where you hold rights. A portfolio with gaps reduces licensing income and weakens your negotiating position.

Timing is everything: the priority and PCT systems

Timing is also a critical aspect of the IP strategy. Filing too early and filing too late both carry risks. Filing too early starts the patent term clock, possibly before the product’s value or detailed commercial plans are understood. Filing too late risks being beaten by competitors’ publications or patents.

There are systems in place to help companies manage their patent filings. Under the international Paris Convention, the first application (often filed in your local market) starts a 12-month “priority year” and gives you what is called a “priority date”. Within that priority year you can file in other member countries and claim that first filing “priority date”. Filing in the other member countries at the very end of the 12-month period is a way to maximize your patent term, as the 20-year patent term is calculated from the subsequent applications’ filing date rather than the priority date.

The priority year has an additional benefit in that it can be used to further strengthen the application. For example, companies can add further data, examples or improvements before filing internationally. This is especially valuable in chemistry and life sciences, where supporting experimental data often decides whether broad claims are granted.

Another system is the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), which is an international filing system. One application, filed within the priority year, preserves your right to seek patents in over 150 member countries. However, it is important to note that the PCT application does not itself produce a worldwide patent. Instead, it defers the big decision to 30 months after the priority date. At this point, called the “national/regional phase”, you choose the individual countries or regions (e.g., Europe) you wish to file the patent application in.

This 30-month window can be very beneficial to companies as it allows you to:

• Gather market intelligence: Test product-market fit, evaluate market size within countries, run pilots and see which countries actually generate demand and the potential for significant commercial revenue.
• Find partners: Identify distributors, manufacturers or licensees, whose locations should contribute to the final country list.
• Delay big expenditure: Each country/region filed in at the 30-month stage will cost approximately USD 2,000–5,000 and will typically far exceed everything spent up to that point. Funding plans should therefore account for this cost and ensure the money is available in time, so that countries are not dropped for lack of funds. Once the national-phase deadline passes, the right to enter a missed country is, in practice, lost. Reinstatement is only possible in limited cases and should never be relied on.

Special considerations in pharma and life sciences

Maximizing the patent term and delaying the biggest patent costs is particularly beneficial in pharma and life sciences, given that drug development and regulatory approval can take many years. As a result, the commercially useful period of exclusivity can be much shorter than the 20-year patent term. Life sciences founders should therefore plan a layered portfolio where possible, such as a core compound or biologic, followed by formulations, dosing regimens and manufacturing processes.

Additionally, delaying costs is also beneficial as pre-clinical or clinical studies conducted before the 30-month national phase deadline may reveal a problem with the drug, leading to the program being abandoned. In that case, you can also abandon the patent filing for that drug rather than spending large sums unnecessarily at the national phase.

To offset the long developmental timeline associated with clinical development and regulatory approval, there are some major markets that have provisions to restore part of the lost term. For example:

• Europe and the UK: A Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC) can extend protection for an authorized medicinal product by up to five years. A further six months may be available for completed pediatric studies.
• United States: Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) compensates for delays caused by the patent office during examination. Patent Term Extension (PTE) restores part of the time lost to FDA regulatory review.

However, the above provisions are capped and subject to conditions, so they recover only part of the time lost to regulatory review. They also apply only where the right patent is held and the product is authorized in time, which again highlights the importance of planning the IP strategy in line with the business plan.

Saudi law currently does not provide an equivalent patent term extension.

Accelerating patent grant when speed matters

Conversely, there are instances when accelerating your patent application can be beneficial. Many patent offices offer ways to speed up examination to grant, often at little or no cost.

Three reasons to speed up grant:

• Investor confidence before a funding round: A granted patent, or even claims found allowable, makes the IP easier to value. It strengthens due diligence and improves the company’s valuation.
• Fast market launch: If your product is in the industrial chemical field and thus may have a relatively quick route to market, it can be advantageous to accelerate the patent application to grant in the launch market to secure the patent position there early and to act as a deterrent to third parties.
• Dealing with a known copier: Patent rights generally cannot be enforced until grant. Speeding up grant brings forward the opportunity to enforce the patent rights against a competitor.

However, speed costs money. In some countries (e.g., the US), you pay an acceleration fee, and acceleration brings forward the attorney work costs and grant fees, which otherwise could be delayed for several years. Therefore, it is usually advisable to only accelerate selected applications for a specific reason (such as one of the above).

Notable major patent office acceleration schemes:

• EPO – PACE: Accelerated examination is available on request, with no official fee. The EPO aims to issue the next communication within 3 months, subject to workload. However, applicants are removed from PACE if they ask for extensions of time or miss a renewal fee.
• USPTO – Track One: Prioritized examination for a significant extra fee, with a target of a final decision within about 12 months. The first office action is typically issued within 3 months and examiner interviews are available to assist in increasing the pace to grant.
• SAIP – Fast Track Examination: Expedited examination for Saudi applications without foreign counterparts for certain categories of inventions aligned with national priorities (e.g., green technologies, healthcare solutions, and innovations originating from local enterprises, startups, or universities).
• Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH): Once an office participating in the PPH has found claims allowable, the applicant can ask another participating office to fast-track examination of the corresponding claims. SAIP has PPH agreements with the USPTO, the Japan Patent Office and the Korean Intellectual Property Office, and has activated PPH with countries including Singapore and China. This lets Saudi founders turn a fast first grant into faster grants abroad, which in turn can also reduce examination costs in the subsequent countries.

Conclusion and call to action

Saudi Arabia’s R&D investment, innovation and patent filings are surging. But protection is national and thus companies wishing to export their technology need an IP strategy that is aligned to the commercial plan, built early but updated as circumstances change, and timed to their funding cycle.

To recap, five key takeaways:

1. file patent application(s) before any public disclosure,
2. map patents onto development, manufacturing, sales, launch and partner locations,
3.  use the priority year and the PCT to delay costs while you gather market intelligence,
4. budget accordingly, particularly for the 30-month deadline, before it arrives, and
5. use fast-track routes and term-extension schemes where they create commercial value.

The author, Esmé Swindells, is a UK and European qualified Patent Attorney at Al Tamimi & Company in Riyadh. She has experience managing complex global patent portfolios for industrial chemical and life science companies, including drafting and filing strategy, PCT and national-phase planning, prosecution strategy before the EPO and other major jurisdictions (including the US, Japan and China) and accelerated examination, with all of the factors above taken into account. Founders and R&D leaders planning international growth are invited to discuss their IP roadmap by contacting her at e.swindells@tamimi.com.