In a highly competitive world, it is perhaps time for India to rethink its strategy and protect its innovations instead of sharing them.
Over the past century, the country has gradually transitioned from a largely agrarian to an industry- and service-dominated economy that is among the largest in the world. To sustain rapid development in sectors such as manufacturing, infrastructure, and defence, India largely relied on imported technologies in its early years.
Today, its top universities and research labs have scientific and intellectual manpower that can rival any in the highly developed countries.
The worries over ‘brain-drain’ are also a thing of the past, as more and more graduates from top institutions like the IITs choose to stay and work in the country. There is also a significant increase in the number of start-ups, many of which are in the deep-tech sector.
Yet, despite these advances, India has a tiny share of the overall intellectual property (IP) creation globally. According to data from Questel Orbit Intelligence, China accounts for a lot more IPs in deep-tech domains than the US or Europe, and certainly 100 times more than India. Given India’s creditable share of global research publications, its achievement in IP creation lags greatly.
In fact, many academics believe that patents and publishing cannot go hand-in-hand. However, they are unaware that one can protect an idea by filing a provisional patent (granted within five working days), and then publishing the information in journals with an acknowledgement of the provisional patent. The complete specification can be filed in due course.
Nevertheless, patent filing from India is steadily increasing. The number of patents filed by, and granted to academic institutions has increased from 6,800 and 1,900, respectively, during 2018-19 to 8,500 and 3,000 during 2019-20; 10,000 and 3,400 in 2020-21; and 14,200 and 3,600 during 2021-22. These figures touched a high of 23,600 and 4,700, respectively, during 2022-23.
Speedy grants
The Indian Patent Office has introduced several measures to speed up the grant process, including reduced fee for start-ups, educational institutions, individuals, and small businesses; and permission for filing expedited publications and examinations. Particularly noteworthy is the expedited examination process, with patents being processed within 2-3 months for educational institutions and startups.
Moreover, academic institutions and other organisations are fostering a culture of innovation by rewarding inventors (researchers) with IP filings and grants with promotions and other annual rewards. IP generation also contributes significantly to the national rankings by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) and international rankings such as the QS World University Rankings.
India’s ranking in the Global Innovation Index (GII), published by the World Intellectual Property Organization, has risen steadily from 81 in 2015 to 40 in 2023. The Indian Patent Office has granted an impressive one lakh patents during fiscal year 2023-24. IIT-Madras received more than 400 patents during this period.
Monetisation
Indian IP in the tech sector is largely in the mechanical engineering and chemistry domains, alongside emerging domains such as computers and communications, biomedical and polymer technologies. On the other hand, there is a distinct need to improve the innovation quotient in sectors such as electronics, physics, biotech and civil engineering.
This, in turn, calls for policy support. Equally important is the need for IP commercialisation and monetisation. Ideally, IPs from academic institutions could be licensed through home-grown start-ups and small businesses, to help cut costly tech imports.
That said, Indian industry must protect its processes and products. Innovative solutions that have evolved over time in the agriculture, manufacturing and construction sectors are potentially valuable IPs, which could benefit other emerging economies too.
By fostering the right ecosystem for IP creation and monetisation, India looks set to capture a leading position in the foreseeable future.
(The writer is a professor, department of civil engineering, and dean for industrial consultancy and sponsored research at IIT-Madras)