Academic institutes take a lead in filing patents

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 1

Although the state industry lags behind in terms of innovation, the academic institutions in the state have taken a lead in the filing of patents. Realising the importance of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), educational, technical institutes and even universities in the state are getting their innovations patented.

Further, to motivate the innovators, various universities in the state have come out with the Intellectual Property Right policy. Under the policy, the innovators can get earning varying from 60 per cent to 100 per cent.

As many as 52 applications have been filed through the Patent Information Centre (PIC) of the Punjab State Council for Science & Technology (PSCST), Chandigarh, and another 35 applications are in the process. Out of the total, 16 patents have already been granted. In addition to these, many institutes and universities have filed their applications individually. Notably, the total patents filed by the industry were around 50 between 2002 to 2013. PSCST Senior Scientific Officer & In charge (IPRs) Gurhaminder Singh said, “The centre is working closely with educational and technical institutes and universities in the state to provide a patent service to them. It is good that researchers, innovators in these institutes are coming forward to get their innovations patented. To motivate the innovators, the patentability searches and IPR filing services are being extended free of cost to schools, ITIs and polytechnics and at nominal charges to other government and private schools.”

Also, IPRs have been introduced as a compulsory subject in the curriculum of Technical & Vocational Education in the state. The PIC at Chandigarh has also set up 12 University IPR cells and 17 student IPR clubs in various engineering colleges. Further, many universities in the state have formulated the IPR policy.