Workshop on “Idea to Market – The IPR Journey”

Chandigarh, December 19, 2023: The DPIIT-IPR Chair, Panjab University in collaboration with Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Mohali, under the initiative of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, organized a workshop on “Idea to Market – The IPR Journey,” on today at the university premises. 

Around 70 delegates from different strata including students, researchers, faculty, private and public enterprises, and start-ups were mentored from renowned experts of legal background and academic innovators. The aim of the workshop was to provide a comprehensive understanding of the significance of IPR and to empower participants with the knowledge and tools needed to protect their innovations effectively, thereby fostering a culture of innovation and IPR protection.

The Chief Guest of the Workshop was Dr Jatinder Kaur Arora, Executive Director, Punjab State Council for Science & Technology. In her inaugural address, she enlightened the participants on the promising status of India as per the latest global innovation index and how India’s rank has improved. She also shared the statistical details related to IP of Punjab as well as of India and gave an insight into the stories of successful startups of Punjab. 

Professor Indu Pal Kaur, DPIIT-IPR Chair, Panjab University and former Chairperson UIPS extended a cordial welcome to the audience and delivered the Keynote Talk on ‘Innovation Unleashed: Bridging the Gap Between Research and Revenue’. In her talk she emphasized that researchers need tostep out of their comfort zone and tread the hitherto less explored path of innovation, like filing patents, defending their patent application and eventually explore licensing and commercialisation opportunities.  She also emphasised that there is a need to create an ecosystem of spin-offs amongst the academic institutions where students under the tutelage of a professor can set up start-up LLCs. Thecourageous spirit of taking up challenges needs to be inculcated in the system by exposing stakeholders to such workshops. She also mentioned that it is very important to bridge the gap between academia and industry to make to the market.

Umesh Vithalkar, Associate Director, C-DAC, Pune stressed that an idea is not only for one person but for the whole canvas of society. Thus, they must be IP protected. 

The subsequent sessions included legal patent attorney Vidisha Garg who elaborated on the patent application process; Ankita Tyagi, Deputy Head, European Business & Technology Centre (EBTS) described the ecosystem which can have academia, foreign and Indian business partners with EBTS as the interface.

The post lunch session started with two enthusiastic start-up success stories from local start-ups: Ishank and Arjun, the fresh graduates from UIET, Panjab University,co-founders, Envinova.

Second start-up was Menthosa Solutions founded by Nitish Mahajan.

This was followed by an online session by Dr Nalin K Srivastava, Scientist D from Meity describing various financial schemes and initiatives of Meity.

The Workshop ended with a highly dynamic and interactive panel discussion moderated by Chetan Manchanda, Joint director, C-DAC Mohali. Panelists included Prof Rupinder Tewari, former Professor and founder IPR Chair, Panjab University, Dr Prashant Kumar, Principal Scientistand IPR Coordinator, CSIR-CSIO, Chandigarh, ParimalKhade, Manager, CoE IP, CDAC Pune, and Nitish Mahajan, CEO Menthosa Solutions Ltd. to name a few.

The workshop ended with a vote of thanks.