The UAE Ministry of Economy and the Austrian Patent Office have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation on the procedures relating to granting patents, protecting intellectual property, training examiners and improving relating services. The six-year MoU was signed by Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy, Mohammed Ahmed Al Shehhi, and President of the Austrian Patent Office, Friedrich Rodler, in Vienna. Al Shehhi, in a statement, said the MoU is in line with the Ministry\'s strategy to promote intellectual property protection and builds on on-going cooperation with the Austrian Patent Office established in 2000 by a cooperation agreement. He added that the MoU with the Austrian Patent Office reflects the UAE\'s efforts in the field of intellectual property protection as it seeks to identify and adopt the best global practices. He emphasised that the UAE is at the forefront of combating software piracy to reduce its impact on innovation and the transfer of technology to the UAE. Protecting trademarks and intellectual property encourages foreign investment flow to the UAE, Al Shehhi remarked. Under the MoU, the Austrian Patent Office will offer a wide range of services to the ministry including search and examination of applications and patents. A minimum of 250 patent applications a year will be sent by the ministry to the Austrian Patent Office for search and examination. The MoU also provides for the establishing of an electronic document exchange system during the first year of the term of this agreement. The launch of the planned system will depend on cooperation between the two parties on related infrastructure. Under the agreement, the Austrian Patent Office will also conduct training on patent search and examination once a year for the Ministry\'s examiners and experts.