The federal department charged with dealing with patents and trademarks has come away with a major award for its efforts to become the first fully-digital government agency.
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IP Australia was this week presented with a global business impact award by American software company Pegasystems for its work updating its digital systems.
The agency was among more than 1000 businesses from around the world who entered the award, sharing the prize with PayPal, Foxtel and Vodafone UK.
IP Australia's general manager Robert Bollard said the agency's upgrade took almost two years to complete.
"The award really recognises the incredible achievement of IP Australia's transformation," Mr Bollard said.
"It's demonstrated that as an organisation we're delivering world-class systems for Australians."
The agency's Rights in One program has seen IP Australia go from 12 per cent of its customer transactions being online three years ago to now being at 99.6 per cent.
The program saw the creation of a virtual assistant as well as the development of a mobile app and digital wallet.
Mr Bollard said the program has led to major changes within the organisation.
"A few years ago we had a very archaic, very inefficient and costly paper-based system, and we would receive millions of pieces of paper every year," he said.
"The 850,000 transactions we received were all from state offices or through the post or by fax sometimes, and now we've managed to work with customers to drive them to digital channels.
"We've been going through this for about two years and it's an ongoing program."
As part of IP Australia's work, the organisation helps to mopnitor patents and trademarks in the country, as well as monitor different parts of intellectual property.
The award win comes as the government agency is undergoing a $40 million upgrade of its headquarters in Woden.
Mr Bollard said the digital program is able to expand as more businesses use intellectual property.
"If you look at the [stock market], in 1975, intangible assets only made up 12 per cent, today it's around 87 per cent," he said.
"Intangibles are the new economy and so work here in Australia is critical to helping Australian innopvators and small to medium enterprises take off."
