The National Electronics Policy (NEP) 2019 aims to create a Sovereign Patent Fund (SPF) — a State-led investment fund that will acquire Intellectual Property (IP) assets important to national economic objectives.

According to industry experts, the fund can develop a domestic innovation ecosystem, acquire critical IP and reduce the knowledge gap, as well as help generate new businesses based on the IP assets owned by Indian corporates.

“The SPF can provide high-level IP support and expertise to Indian enterprises, which themselves may be unable to afford it, so that they can start up and scale up,” Lloyd Mathias, Senior Technology Executive and Former Asia Pacific Marketing head of HP, told BusinessLine. Through the SPF, India can have licensing deals with IP holders and secure IP for Indian manufacturing units, thus connecting technical know-how with business needs, he added.

According to Hetal Gandhi, Director, Crisil Research, in the global scenario, SPFs were first launched in South Korea, followed by France and Japan.

Setting up of an SPF to acquire IP assets would support the MSME players largely by making these technologies available at a low cost, said Kamal Nandi, President – Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA) and Business Head & Executive Vice President – Godrej Appliances.

On the importance of promoting the development of IP in the Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (EDSM) sector, Nandi said that with the rapid development of technology, the sector is facing intense competition from international players. “To differentiate offerings and stay ahead in the market, we need a strong R&D infrastructure. We need to invest resources such as time, money and talent in developing a robust IP pipeline,” he said.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW