In 2000, WIPO's member states designated April 26 - the day on which the WIPO Convention came into force in 1970 - as World Intellectual Property Day with the aim of increasing general understanding of IP. World IP Day offers a unique opportunity each year to join with like-minded individuals and business entities from around the globe to consider how IP contributes to the flourishing of digital content, including music and the arts, and to increase the pace of technological innovation across the globe.
MAIT, in association with Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), Government of India and Government of Maharashtra today organised a high level workshop on creating 'IPR Awareness'. The occasion was World Intellectual Property Day 2016, celebrated under the aegis of the World Intellectual Property Organisation.
The theme of the workshop was "Digital Creativity: Culture Reimagined". The workshop aimed to provide an appreciation of the importance of Intellectual Property (IP) in gaining competitive advantage and understanding how to protect IP at all levels of business. The workshop covered areas such as the importance of IP operations, research and implementation for the ICTE sector.
Speaking at the workshop Shri Vinit Goenka, Member, IT Task Force, Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways stated, "Since independence, no Indian citizen has won a Nobel Prize in any technology discipline. India is a laggard in all parameters of innovation. We invest little in research activities; we have among the least science graduates per thousand graduates; our university faculty members don't publish enough papers; our score in patent filing and approvals are very poor; and we don't have world class universities. On the occasion of World IP Day, we must all come together and work towards changing this situation. India has the potential and a government with strong will to augment India's reputation in the research and innovation domain."
Other prominent participants at the workshop included Mr Dinesh Jotwani, Regional Head, Government Affairs, Asia-Pacific, NCR Corporation, Mr Tabrez Alam, CEO, Pluggd.in, Mr Anwar Shirpurwala, Executive Director, MAIT and other legal and industry experts.
"In today's fast changing global business environment, we aimed to bring into focus how IP strategy can be used to build sustainable competitive advantage by Small and Medium E-nterprises (SMEs) and Start-ups over the long term, how to create monetisable assets, enable the IPR Research & Development team to create adaptable technologies, promote responsible use of IP in compliance with Indian legal requirements, and provide tactical business advantage in the short term," stated Mr Anwar Shirpurwala, Executive Director, MAIT.
During the course of the day-long workshop, IP experts from leading government, industry and legal organisations presented keynotes and participated in panel discussions to discuss issues such as - Effective Utilisation of IP Tools in the ICTE industry in India; Software and Hardware patenting and new IPR guidelines; Copyright issues and challenges in the ICTE industry; Government Schemes and Initiatives; Technology Licencing in a Strategic Partnership; Patent Information System; Importance of IP Audit for MSMEs; Best Practices in Technology Transfer and Litigation Strategies, especially in relation to MSMEs; Consulting the right partner for IP commercialisation, and so on.
Workshop Takeaways
The workshop delivered on several crucial 'IP for business' take-aways and was widely appreciated by the audience. It ended with a 'Vote of Thanks' by Mr Anwar Shirpurwala, Executive Director, MAIT who wrapped up the proceedings with the words,"We are keenly aware that the India IT, Telecommunications and Electronics hardware industry is on the verge of a new growth opportunity through Government-led programmes such as 'Digital India' and 'Make in India' and Preferential Market Access norms. This is a great opportunity for SMEs to understand, innovate and manufacture cutting edge products for fast emerging business scenarios that straddle the twin domains of SMAC and IoE/IoT. We plan to be at the forefront of such initiatives, to enable healthy, IP-led growth and development of the India ICTE sector."
