Gujarat IP Festival concluded with a call for creating an innovation culture in the society

New Delhi: Atmanirbhar Bharat or Self-reliant India is the vision of the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi of making India a self-reliant nation. The Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan is a movement for India to take charge of the innovations for which we are usually dependent on global suppliers. Vocal for Local is the mantra to achieve Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Intellectual property (IP) is one of the key drivers of our world. It enhances our lives, grows our economies, and sustains our world by ensuring new, high-quality innovations are continually developed across society. Everyone from a researcher in a laboratory to the innovator dreaming up the next big invention in his garage uses IP to advance their work.

In our modern world, intellectual property enhances every aspect of our lives. Every day we come in contact with products that have protected IP. It rewards innovators for turning ideas, from a better cup of coffee to a more energy-efficient car, into the technologies that sustain and enhance our world.

The call for Atmanirvar Bharat has opened up unique opportunities for Indian individuals, start-ups, MSMEs and entrepreneurs to enter into the arena of entrepreneurship and work towards innovative products. India, to be self-reliant, needs to pursue a path of Innovation, it has to create innovation capabilities, scientific capabilities and infrastructure and a start-up ecosystem where innovative products are designed for India as well as for the world.

In order to sensitize all including the individual students, teachers, faculties, researchers, scientists, innovators, entrepreneurs, policymakers and industry representatives, Gujarat Council on Science and Technology (GUJCOST) has organized a virtual Gujarat IP Festival from 16 – 22nd August 2020.

The program aimed to provide an ideal platform to create IP, celebrate IP and IP culture in the society and business. Such IP culture would orient ones thinking towards innovation and propels them into entrepreneurship. It also aimed to explore the grey areas where necessary interventions can be made to improve the lives and livelihoods in the society.

GUJCOSTs vision is to create IP culture where people can see the importance of IP everywhere either in business or society and celebrate IP as a festival in their everyday lives and livelihoods in the same way we celebrate many festivals in India which are ingrained in our culture.

The program was organized by the Patent Information Center (PIC) of GUJCOST in collaboration with CIPAM, Govt of India. The six-day webinars are attended by 1800 participants including students, teachers, researchers, housewives, Community Science Centre coordinators, MSME members, grassroots innovators, start-ups and young entrepreneurs of Gujarat. The sessions, designed on a wide spectrum of IP world, delivered the key messages to engage and cultivate IP understanding and IP culture among all stakeholders in fostering innovation, creativity and economic performance.

The six-day webinars had twelve sessions on patents, copyrights, designs, trademarks, geographical indications, with eminent experts including, Dr. H. Purushottam, CMD of National Research Development Council (NRDC), Shri M Nagarajan, Commissioner of Higher Education, Govt of Gujarat, Shri Padmini Buch, Senior IPR domain expert, Shri Satish Kumar, Assistant Director, MSME-DC, Govt of India, Ms. Divya Srinivasan, Deputy Manager, CIPAM, Dr. Shyam Kumar Barik, Asst. Controller, Patent & Design, Patent office Kolkata, Mr. Bhavin Kothari, NID, Mr. Jatin Trivedi, Senior Partner of Y. J. Trivedi Co. Ltd., Ms. Preeti Dhaiya, Examiner of Trademark, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Shri R. D. Barhatt, Joint Commissioner, Industries Commissionerate, Shri. Chinna Raja Naidu, Deputy Registrar, Geographical Indications, Chennai, Shri Yashwant Dev Panwar, Head, PFC, TIFAC, Govt of India, Dr. Rashmi Sharma, Scientist E, SEED, SSTP and NCSTC Division of DST, Govt of India, and Ms. Kiran Sharma, Examiner of Copyright. DPIIT, Govt of India.

Each of the sessions was both engaging and interactive and was well appreciated by the participants. The take-home message is how the simple idea can be converted to the currency of the 21st century.

We have to create a culture of innovation among the children and community to bring more IP which will help us to minimize the requirements of the import and to make the country self-dependent, Atmanirvar Bharat – said Prof Girish Vekaria, Professor in Physics at Sir P T Science College, Modasa.

The Gujarat IP Festival has enabling us as an individual to make sure that we keep innovating – expressed Dr. H. N. Saha, Director of Gandhinagar Institute of Technology, who has a commitment to creating an IP culture in the institution to make students self-reliant.

The program was well coordinated by Mrs. Satya Sridevi Pogaru, Scientist C, Jigisha Vala, Scientist B and Shri Vimal Paradava, Project Scientist at Patent Information Centre (PIC) of GUJCOST, Gandhinagar