The National Research Development Corporation (NRDC), the Kalam Institute of Health Technology located at Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone (AMTZ) and the Novel IPR Academy have taken up a campaign to raise the rank of Andhra Pradesh from tenth among States in intellectual property rights to the first in the next three to five years.

Maharashtra occupies the top rank followed by Karnataka. While the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) conducts the global ranking, the assessment is based on various parameters of innovation among various States by Intellectual Property Rights Office.

AMTZ CEO Jitendra Kumar Sharma said on Thursday that to achieve the mission, they tied up with the IPR Academy, a CSR arm of Novel Patent Services Pvt Ltd to conduct various courses and handhold start-ups to patents for their ideas as well as devices and components developed by them to promote innovation culture in the State.

AMTZ is developing India’s first comprehensive medical devices manufacturing park in 270 acres at Nadupuru near the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant to bring down the cost of healthcare by 40 to 60 per cent. Novel has opened its office at AMTZ. It has evolved the syllabus to train laymen as well as professionals in IPR, with the duration of courses ranging from one day to six months.

NRDC Chairman and Managing Director H Purushotham said in rankings made by WIPO, India is 57. While China stands on top with 6.60 lakh IPs followed by the United States at 5.25 lakh, India had secured 40,000 to 45,000 patents. With 13 years of experience in Intellectual Property (IP), 65 full-time engineers on the payroll and most of clientele from abroad, Novel Patent Services Pvt Ltd headquartered in Visakhapatnam has decided to spread awareness on IP through its non-profit arm Novel IPR Academy, said its managing director Hima Bindu Atti.

“We want to conduct camps in colleges and hold an innovation challenge to award best three ideas every year in connection with celebration of World IP Day to stimulate innovation and creativity on April 26,” said Himabindu.