The newly reconstituted advisory committee on IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) under the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE) plans to reach out to a younger target group with programmes designed to create better awareness about patents and IPR.
Chairman of the committee V.P. Balagangadharan told The Hindu that one of the ideas before the committee is an innovation box for schoolchildren to submit their creative ideas.
“Students in government schools with relatively less exposure to new technologies often come up with brilliant ideas. But in the absence of encouragement, their enthusiasm dies down and the ideas just wither away. By providing technical and financial support, at least some of these ideas could be developed into patentable products. Promoting such talents will also help to inspire other students,” Mr. Balagangadharan said.
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The Patent Information Centre (PIC) under KSCSTE has reached out to about 25,000 engineering students over the past five years. IPR cells have been established in all the government engineering colleges in the State. “College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, alone generates two to three patent applications every month,” says Ajith Prabhu, Nodal Officer, PIC, and member convener of the advisory committee on IPR.
The PIC has received 570 applications for patents from research institutions, universities, and colleges over the past five years. “As many as 65 applications have been sent for filing of patent,” said Dr. Prabhu. “Of these, eight patent applications were those from grassroots innovators supported by the KSCSTE.”
Established in 2003 as a satellite centre of the Patent Facilitating Centre under the Union Department of Science and Technology, the PIC-Kerala has organised programmes across the State to create public awareness about IPR. It also facilitates the filing of patent applications from the State by conducting patent database search free of cost.
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“The PIC has conducted 280 seminars, workshops and lecture on IPR. To create IPR awareness among schoolchildren, we have launched the Scheme for Research and Innovation in Schools for Technical Invention (SRISHTI). There has been a good response to the Rural Innovators Meet for three years in a row,” Dr. Prabhu said. Other initiatives of the PIC like the Rural Technology Programmes and Techfest for engineering students have elicited good response. The PIC has also established IPR centres in the five universities in Kerala.
Innovation box to submit their creative ideas