Events

27 Aug 2014|Noida | Amity University Campus, Sector- 125, Noida

“Patent, Innovate and Flourish”, aver Scientists during a Workshop on “Innovation and Intellectual Property Rights” at Amity

The Workshop aimed to familiarize students, faculty members and staff at Amity with Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), Process of filing patents, their protection and other IP Wealth.

Mr. B N Sarkar- Scientist “F”, DSIR, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India; Mr. D C Joshi- Chief, National Research Development Corporation (NRDC), Delhi; Dr. B Shukla- Vice Chancellor, Amity University and Dr. Upinder Dhar – Group Additional Vice Chancellor, Amity University inaugurated the Workshop.

During the occasion,“NRDC- Amity Innovation Facilitation Centre” was also inaugurated at Amity Innovation Incubator, which is the first Innovation Facilitation Centre under IFC (Innovation Facilitation Centre) Scheme of NRDC.

NRDC –AMITY IFC has been established to act as Nodal Agency in the NCR which would organize Capacity Building Programmes in other Institutions in NCR, provide IPR Counseling and Advisory Services, facilitate the filing of National and International Patents and help in IPR Commercialization and Technology Transfer.

Addressing the gathering,Dr. B Shukla- Vice Chancellor, Amity University said that the two biggest challenges for the economic development of the country are- continuous growth of Indian industry and increase in employment generation, which could only be ensured through promoting Innovation at grass root levels. Dwelling on R& D initiatives in educational Institutes and role of faculty members in the same, Dr. Shukla opined that faculty members need to have futuristic outlook; they have to move beyond publishing Research papers and look into the commercialization of their research by industry for the benefit of humanity. She advised that research carried on or knowledge generated in educational institutions should be able to address the problems at grass root level.

Sharing his views,Mr. B N Sarkar- Scientist “F”, DSIR, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of Indiastressed that knowledge generated by academic Institutions should be transferred to market through newer technologies. He shared that DSIR has been, through its various Grants and Programmes, kindling the spirit of R&D in the country. DSIR motivates students and individuals to develop their concepts/models by providing requisite monetary assistance. He called upon the students and faculty members of Amity to utilize the facilities offered by NRDC- Amity Innovation Facilitation Centre and thereby, nurture the culture of Innovation in the country.

Speaking during the occasion, Dr W Selvamurthy -President, Amity Science, Technology and Innovation Foundation (ASTIF)briefed the audience with the revolutionary products and technologies being developed by the Researchers and Scientists of Amity including LPG Sensor, Cooking Oil Quality Testing Kit, Biodegradable Plastics, Water Testing Kit, Nano-Silver Gel for healing wounds, Herbal colors for Food and cosmetic industry and others. He expressed his hope that the coming together of Amity and NRDC would open a golden page in the history of innovation in India and very soon,“NRDC- Amity Innovation Facilitation Centre” will become a cradle of Innovations in India.

The inauguration was followed by technical sessions wherein eminent speakers includingProf. V V Krishna, Professor at Centre for Studies in Science Policy School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Dr. Rekha Chaturvedi, Chair for Intellectual Property Rights (IPR, Delhi University; Mr. Swapnil M Sanap, Patent Engineer, S Majumdar & Company, IPR Firm shared their views on “Universities as Frontiers of IP and Innovation”, “Importance of IP and bridging the gap between Research and Innovation” and “Overview of Indian Patent Laws”

Sharing his views on “Universities as Frontiers of IP and Innovation”, Prof. V V Krishna, Professor at Centre for Studies in Science Policy School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University highlighted that Universities across the globe contribute substantially to the R&D in a country, especially basic research. Innovation draws more heavily on basic knowledge- Nanotechnology, Biotechnology and Bio-medical, Pharma, ICT and Telecommunication. He shared the R&D focus and dynamism of countries such as Singapore, Taiwan and China vis a vie India. He stressed that India has over 700 Universities and 35, 000 colleges with nearly 18% GER but only 12-15% of HEI’s are research oriented. According to rough estimates, he citied, only 0.5-1% of Indian Universities can be characterized as “Triple Helix” the ones where innovation is combined with teaching and research. He remarked, “In last few years only Indian Universities have started actively participating in Sponsored and Consultancy Research, Collaborating with National and Foreign entities.” Expressing his concern, he stated that a meager 10% of research based Universities are mainly involved in Sponsored, Consultancy and Collaborative Research; publish or perish is the main culture strongly entrenched in the Indian University system.Leading Asian Universities also publish but at the same time, have developed the culture of “Patent, Innovate and Flourish”. The need of the hour, he suggested, are University based Innovation Clusters, Science and Technology Parks and Incubation Centres.