Indian companies filed 1.38 lakh tech patents during 2015-22 – The Hindu (business line).
Technology innovation is gaining pace in India with Indian companies having filed 1,38,000 tech patents in India from 2015 to 2021, according to the India Patents report launched by the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom).
The report is one among a series of Nasscom’s Emerging Technology-focused reports that aims to understand how Indian technology companies are creating IP assets in their largest market. It marks the start of our IP charter for FY2023, which will be followed by a deep dive analysis into the tech patents filed in India.
Over 9,500 patents were filed by India domiciled companies in the US between 2015-2021, an increase of 47 per cent over 2015 and 2019. “The US continues to witness increased patent filing from Indian companies as it remains a key export market,” as per the Nasscom report.
Start-ups have been key contributors in terms of technology innovation. Over 60 per cent of the technology patents were filed by Indian companies and start-ups while 16.7 per cent of the tech patents were filed by Individual inventors/Academia-Research which witnessed the highest growth of 60 per cent.
Overall, more than 400 technology patents were filed by Indian start-ups during 2015-2021, an increase of ~45 per cent from 280 patents in the 2015-2019 period. In terms of key segments, 21 per cent of the tech patents were related to Software Applications and Healthcare and Medical Devices, the leading segments. Over 50 per cent of the patents filed during 2015-2021 were related to emerging technologies. AI patents more than doubled in the period 2015-2021 compared to 2015-19. Over 1,300 patents were filed in the AI domain during 2015-2021.
Today, every business in the world is the product of innovation. In an innovative world, evolving in every sector, protecting the rights of people is important. IPR grants preferential rights to the owner or creator of the property. So, they can decide the fair value and sell it to anyone. Good returns to developers encourage them and others to develop new ideas. Thus, promoting innovation which directly results in economic development.
Role of the Government in Protecting Technology Innovations
Recognizing the need for the protection of Intellectual Property (IP) as a vital component of innovation and scientific advance and that many of the benefits of inventions will be lost if the resulting IP is not protected, MeitY has made significant strides in recent years in creating a conducive ICT-IPR ecosystem for creation, protection, awareness and commercialization of IP as well as IP Rights. Some of the major initiatives of the division are:
- Establishment of Centre of Excellence in Intellectual Property (CoE-IP) – An initiative which was envisioned with the objective of helping innovators, startups and SMEs to understand the value of intellectual property (IP), offer value added services and ensure adequate protection of the IPRs.
- Providing IP Facilitation Support to MeitY Societies and Grantee Institutions – Established for creating state-of-the-art R&D paradigm in the country Innovation and IPR Division has been supporting its, R&D societies and grantee institutions in filing IPRs which includes patents, copyrights, designs and trademarks.
- Support for International Patent Protection in E&IT (SIP-EIT) – II for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and Technology Startup Units – A scheme by MeitY to provide support to MSMEs and Startups that are trying to secure intellectual property rights on a global level.
- IPR Awareness through Financial Support to Industry Bodies and Academia – To enhance innovation, competitiveness and economic growth in India, it is imperative to harness IP. More specifically, with the phenomenal growth of Indian IT/ITES sector and its need to move up the value chain, it is important to foster innovation and legally protect and exploit IPRs generated in India.
- Providing Help-Desk services For IPR or Patent Analysis and Management System (PAMS) – CoE-IP had initiated the Patent Analysis Management System (PAMS) portal for providing a range of value added intellectual property related services.
- Creation of IPR Awareness through Digital Media – To give an in-depth understanding of the various types of IPRs, a user friendly e-learning multimedia toolkit has been developed by CoE-IP. The prime purpose and focus of the IP Panorama is to create IPR awareness among the targeted stakeholders comprising tech Startups MSMEs, and academia belonging to the ICT domain.
Role of patents in sustaining the Innovation Process
Patent applications are a rich repository of technical and scientific information accessible to all through patent office databases. The humungous knowledge pool which probably would have not existed without the patent system in turn stimulates further research and development- thereby creating a virtuous cycle of innovation. Intellectual property rights foster this virtuous cycle of innovation and creation. It ensures that rewards typically flow to those who improve upon previous works and inventions and that these new ideas can be utilised by others. Technologies and creations that have touched and changed umpteen lives would probably have not existed today without the incentives offered by intellectual property.
The purpose of protecting your technology innovations through patenting it is:
- To transform technical ideas/ knowledge into viable products and services in order to commercialize its use.
- To connect innovators/applicants with industry and technology partners.
- To facilitate early-stage technologies into new products and services through IP based services to bolster the startup entrepreneurial ecosystem.
- To forge a win-win partnership among various technology partners.
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