The Patent Facilitating Centre (PFC) under the Union Department of Science and Technology (DST) is gearing up to expand its digital footprint by utilising social media services to create better awareness about Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).
The programme is primarily aimed at using IT tools to reach out to the younger generation, PFC head Yashawant Dev Panwar told The Hindu . The PFC is a unit of the Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), an autonomous body under the DST. Mr. Panwar was here on Monday to participate in the first meeting of the reconstituted advisory committee on IPR under the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE).
“The idea is to tap the social media space used by technology-savvy youngsters to share information and content on IPR and related issues. TIFAC has already created a Facebook page and efforts are on load it with information. A Twitter profile is also being generated.”
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The draft national IPR policy, now in circulation, stresses the need for public awareness about IPR to accelerate development, promote entrepreneurship, enhance employment and increase competitiveness.
Mr. Panwar stressed the need for State-level Patent Information Centres (PIC) to work on using patent information as an input to enhance the output of research and development institutions. “We will have to create a culture and develop standard techniques for the purpose.” He said the campaign for IPR awareness had enabled many academic institutions to become independent of PFC-PIC mechanism for processing patent applications. “IPR cells have been established in 70 universities across the country. Over time, we hope to incorporate IPR in the course curriculum from the school level.”
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Mr. Panwar said the PFC was working on a project to create a large pool of trainers on IPR.