Startup boom: Ninefold rise in patent applications in 3 years

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 12

The Indian startup sector is booming with a ninefold rise in the number of patent applications filed by new firms over the last three years.

Domestic startups filed 1,824 requests for patents in 2019-2020 as against 207

in 2016-2017. Individual patent applications also surged, though the pace of growth was not as sharp as for startups. Individual patents filed in India were 15,550 in 2017 and rose to 20,844 through 2019-2020.

Domestic startup requests

• 1,824: 2019-2020
• 207: 2016-2017

Individual patents filed

• 20,844: 2019-2020
• 15,550: 2016-2017

Official data show Maharashtra leading the startup boom with maximum patent applications filed from the state last year — 774 out of 1,824 nationally. In the north, Chandigarh led the startup innovation with 89 patent requests as against 54 by Haryana, three by Himachal Pradesh, four by Jammu and Kashmir and 22 by Punjab.

Among individual patents, Punjab was the regional leader in 2019-2020 with 1,435 applications as against Chandigarh's 171, Haryana's 672, Himachal's 141 and Jammu and Kashmir’s 45.

Nationally, Maharashtra led in individual patents filed last year — 4,741 out of the total 20,844.

Science Minister Harsh Vardhan today said India's global position both in innovations and publications had seen a rising trend over the years with the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2020 ranking India at 48, up from 81 in 2015. India made it to the top 50 in the GII ranking for the first time ever in 2020.

The ministry data further show the number of researchers per million increasing to 255 in 2017 as compared to 110 in 2000.

The Union Budget 2021-2022 provides Rs 50,000 crore for five years for the National Research Foundation (NRF), an autono mous body envisaged to support researchers working across science and technology sectors, especially in universities.

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