Intellectual property conversion into assets critical for higher returns: CII conference

To boost innovation through planned growth of intellectual property rights (IPR) in India, the government and industry body CII has highlighted the importance of adequate monetization and commercialization of IP and the necessity of IP awareness.

Speaking at a CII conference on Intellectual Property Rights: Planning an IPR portfolio for growth and new Paradigms, Dr K S Kardam, Deputy Controller of Patents & Designs and Head, Patent Office, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said, “India has developed a national framework for creation and protection of IPRs, which is continuously evolving and is already meeting global standards. The challenge before the county is to scale up the process of IP creation and capture value from the scientific and technological creations to catapult the country into the league of most innovative and developed nations.”

“India is way behind in IP applications globally. In 2010 490,226 patent applications were filed in USA, 391,177 in China, 344,598 in Japan, 170,101 in Korea, 150,961 in EPO, 59,254 in Germany and mere 39,400 in India along with 7589 design applications,” Kardam added. China recorded a 24 per cent growth in patent filing whereas India recorded about 12 per cent and secured 9^th position ahead of Brazil & United Kingdom.

“It is important to create IPs based on the demand in the market so that they could be commercialized rather than just filing patents. There is a need to carry out research in the areas relating to environment protection, said Dr Rita Kumar, Chairman and Managing Director, National Research Development Corporation.

Man Mohan S Kohli, Chairman, CII Chandigarh Council and CEO, Hotel Aroma stated that leveraging Intellectual Property for knowledge based development and national wealth creation is immensely important in the current scenario. He added that if the innovations are not protected, the return on investment on Research & Development would not be as high as desired and that it is a fallacy that the protection can be filed only for big inventions.

“While Indian industry has been increasingly realizing the importance and benefits of IP creation and protection, the Indian Government has been doing its best in creating conducive environment by upgrading infrastructure and bringing in policy level initiatives in the country, which has resulted in sweeping changes in IP culture & administration in India,” Kohli said adding, “CII realizing the importance of IPR as the key differentiator for industrial competitiveness institutionalized a dedicated department manned by domain experts and professionals more than a decade back.”