The 7th International Conference on Intellectual Property Rights was held on 26th Nov 2021. The conference was presided by Dr Mashelkar, Former Director General, CSIR and Chair of Jury panel for CII Industrial IP Awards – 2021, Dr Ramesh Datla, Chairman, CII National Committee on IP and Chairman, Elico and Mr Daren Tang, Director General, World Intellectual Property Organization.
Dr R Mashelkar during his keynote emphasized that IP is going to be one of the most important drivers and a key imperative for driving growth and economic development. He gave his insights on the phenomenal paradigm shift from ‘Economics of Knowledge’ in late 1990s to the “Focus and importance of Knowledge & IP in driving Economic growth’ in 2021. He also mentioned that if India wants to build itself as a leading innovation nation, then IP would play a critical role in its Innovation transformation journey – which would be led by power of conversion from idea to impact and from mind to marketplace. This is also very relevant and in synergy with the theme of the conference - Maximization of IPR for Growth and Development.
The CII Industrial Intellectual Property Awards were also conferred as part of the program to Twenty-six (26) organizations for their outstanding IP portfolios of Patents, Design and Trademarks. The awards were conferred among the large, small and medium industries, and start-ups, in the categories of (1) ICT & Services, (2) Engineering & Manufacturing, (3) Life Sciences & Pharma and (4) Academia and (5) R& D Institutions.
The Conference were jointly organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Govt. of India and the Intellectual Property Office, India.
Winners of CII Industrial Intellectual Award 2021:
Best Patents Portfolio Startup-ICT/Services TriSpace Technologies (OPC) Pvt. Ltd
Best Trademarks Portfolio Startup-ICT/Services City Explorers Private Limited
Best Patents Portfolio, Start-ups (Life Science/Pharma) Cellix Bio Private Limited
Best Trademarks Portfolio, Start-ups (Life Science/Pharma) Prantae Solutions Private Limited OPC and Shashvi Remedies Ltd
Best Patents Portfolio, SME (Life Science/Pharma) Meril Life Science Pvt. Limited
Best Trademarks Portfolio, SME (Life Science/Pharma) Sami Sabinsa Group Limited
Best Patents Portfolio, SME (Manufacturing/Engineering) Pradeep Metal Pvt. Limited
Best Patents Portfolio, Academic Institution Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
Best Patents Portfolio, Research & Development Institution CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune
Best Patents Portfolio, Large (ICT/Services) Tata Consultancy Services
Best Patents Portfolio, Large (Life Science/Pharma) UPL Ltd
Best Patents Portfolio, Large (Manufacturing/Engineering) Indian Oil Corporation Limited
Best Trademarks Portfolio, Large (Manufacturing/Engineering) Sterlite Technologies Limited
Best Designs Portfolio, Large (Manufacturing/Engineering) Mahindra & Mahindra Limited
Special Appreciation Awards:
Senseforth AI Research Pvt Ltd
Rubiscape Private Limited
Bugworks Research Pvt. Ltd.
Arrow Greentech Limited
Log 9 Materials Scientific Pvt. Limited
SRM Institute of Science and Technology
Center for Development of Telematics (C-DOT)
Nokia Corporation
Aurobindo Pharma
Tata Steel Ltd
Tata Chemicals Ltd
Tata Motors Ltd
Dr Mashelkar stressed upon the fact that Doha declaration in 2001 for the first time brought to the fore the issue of IPR and public health. He further mentioned, 2020 was the year of pandemic but inversely 2020 was the year of science and in fact a year of Indian science, which lead to development of vaccines and hygiene product. IPR and the rights of poor is the area where India leads. Dr Mashelkar mentioned that, Indian companies are now filing more patents in other countries. The number of patents filling has been increased from 7000 to 15000 in the year 2011 to 2020.
Dr. Mashelkar further stated that India has a vibrant startup ecosystem, Government has taken various measures to support startups. India has currently 72 Unicorns, 32 Sunicorns and 54 Minicorns and its enlightening to know that 50% of these startups come from institutes other then IITs & IIMs. Competitive intelligence and IP analytics are of deep importance in today world. The dream of Digital India is getting fulfilled which will make IP system more important in coming days.
While delivering the opening address at the Conference Dr Ramesh Datla Chairman, CII National Committee on IP and Chairman, Elico Ltd mentioned that since last 15 years CII has been actively working by creating awareness within industry and all stakeholders on the importance of IPR in order to enhance their intangible value and competitiveness. CII has setup IP facilitation centres in different parts of the country to work closely with central and state governments and has facilitated protection of over 300 patents, 1200 trademarks, 200 design, 200 copyrights and 60 GIs.
In his Special address, Mr Daren Tang, Director General, World Intellectual Property Organization mentioned that WIPO’s World IP Indicators Report 2021 shows that, global trademark applications rose sharply last year by almost 14%, Designs grew by 2%, Patent applications increased by 1.6%. IP is increasingly becoming an important driver of economic growth & development around the world. About Ten years ago, 5 in 10 IP filings originated from Asia, today this figure is close to 7 in 10 filings. As a result, the geography of IP, innovation and creativity is shifting with Indian in playing an important role in moving these developments forward. WIPO is developing a range of practical measures to support MSMEs to harness their IP for growth. Mr Tang further emphasizes that, in India partners like the CII have an important role to play in advising Indian startups entrepreneurs and MSMEs on how they can use their IP more successfully to take their ideas to the market.
In the concluding remarks, Dr Ashish Mohan, Principal Counselor, CII mentioned that CII is committed to institutionalize and establish IP (the Intellectual property) as a movement in India – enabling India Inc. to leverage & capitalize its rising innovation potential. CII is facilitating its members and technology partners to secure their intellectual property rights though appropriate IP tools, including patents, design registrations, trademark, and the requisite legal framework. The facilitation centres are envisaged to become CII Centre of Excellence in IP services very soon and catalyze the growth of industrial output sector of Indian economy. While congratulating all the winners of the CII IP Awards Dr Mohan said that IP is one of the most important drive and a key imperative for economic growth and development.
26 November 2021