The Dominican Republic’s next export power play: Intellectual Property

By Jonathan Joel Mentor | @jonathanjmentor

There is a quiet revolution happening inside the Dominican Republic’s economic institutions and one that most people haven’t noticed yet, but will define our competitiveness for the next decade.

While much of Latin America is still fighting for incremental gains in traditional exports, the DR is quietly assembling the architecture for something far bigger: a national system capable of exporting intellectual property at scale.

And two institutions are at the center of that shift: ONAPI and MICM.

The ONAPI We Don’t Talk About Enough

The traditional narrative paints ONAPI as a registrar — the place you trademark your business name or file a patent.  But if you look closer at the institution today, you see something different: A modernized, ISO-standard, fully digitized IP governance structure with something rare in the region: institutional consistency.

E-SERPI. CATI networks. Transparent registral data. Quality systems.  These aren’t bureaucratic achievements — they’re economic infrastructure.

Because you cannot export what you cannot register, protect, or value. And ONAPI is quietly making that possible.

MICM: The Missing Half of the Engine

If ONAPI is the supply side of IP, MICM is the demand side.

The ministry’s recent strategic plans — productivity, digitalization, MSME modernization, circular economy, industrial innovation — form the exact policy grid needed for IP-based sectors to scale.

MICM has built what emerging markets struggle with most: a national architecture that can take an IP registration and turn it into something commercially viable.

IoT adoption programs. Export onboarding. Quality certification routes. MSME transformation. These are not isolated programs — they’re the scaffolding for a knowledge-driven economy.

The Global Market Has Already Shifted

Digital services and creative exports are growing faster than traditional goods worldwide.  UNCTAD reports $3.8 trillion in digital service exports; WIPO data shows IP licensing in emerging markets expanding 8–12% annually.

The countries winning today aren’t exporting more products.  They’re exporting ideas, design, software, science, and creative IP.

The DR has the institutions.
The DR has the talent.
What’s missing is integration.

This Is Where the Conversation Must Go Next

The new whitepaper released by Successment — EXPORTABLE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: Establishing a New Dominican Economic Pillar — lays out a clear national pipeline:

• ONAPI → IP production
• MICM → industrial policy + export readiness
• ProDominicana → market activation
• BCRD → export performance tracking

It is not a theory. It is architecture.   A roadmap for turning invention, software, design, R&D, and creative output into exportable, revenue-bearing national assets.

A Moment Worth Marking

This publication also aligns with a milestone for the Dominican startup ecosystem:
Successment’s recognition by ADOEXPO for contributions to Dominican export innovation.

This honor matters not for the award itself, but for what it signals:  The Dominican Republic is beginning to take its place in the global conversation on exportable knowledge and intellectual capital.

And ONAPI and MICM — two institutions that rarely get credit outside their regulatory lanes — are now becoming central pillars in that transition.

If the DR Wants to Lead the Region, This Is the Path

We can keep competing on price, logistics, and volume.  Or we can compete on creativity, invention, and intellectual power — the currency of modern economies.

The institutions are ready.  The talent is ready.  The global market is ready.

The question is simply whether we choose to activate the system we already have.

Full whitepaper (bilingual edition) available here.

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Jonathan Joel Mentor is the CEO of Successment and architect of the Digital Nomad Summit™, scaling startups and challenging institutions to evolve. UN World Summit Award Nominee  & ADOEXPO National Excellence in Exportation Award Winner  www.jonathanjmentor.co | digitalnomadsummit.co