The World Intellectual Property Organization has appointed Daren Tang from Singapore as its next director general. Tang will be the first Asian to hold the top job at the United Nations specialized agency.

Tang, who will start a six-year term with WIPO in October, is currently chief executive of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore. Tang, an international law specialist, joined IPOS in 2012 as a deputy to then-chief executive Tan Yih San, and succeeded Tan in 2015. Before IPOS, he served as senior state counsel with Singapore's Attorney General's Chambers, representing the country in international law disputes.

During Tang's tenure as IPOS head, Singapore launched a 10-year plan to upgrade the city-state into a global intellectual property hub in Asia. The scheme aims to develop Singapore to be a center for IP filings, transactions as well as dispute resolution. In its 2019 Global Competitiveness Report, the World Economic Forum placed Singapore second (after Finland) in terms of IP protection among 141 economies around the globe.