Indian Institute of Technology Madras Faculty, Researchers and Students filed as many as 184 patents during 2020 despite several months of nation-wide lockdown.

This includes nine patents related to Covid-19 for inventions ranging from systems and methods for detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, a standalone, portable single-use and wireless ventilator system, a system for non-invasive calibration-free blood pressure measurement and a smart and sustainable devices for infectious Mask and PPE waste treatment.

Besides medical and healthcare, several patents were also filed in other cutting-edge areas such as 5G, telecommunications, sensors and instrumentation, among others.

Another major highlight is the steady increase in international patents. From 22 during 2017, the total number of international patents has almost tripled in just four years, reaching 65 during 2020, says a press release from the institute.

Ravindra Gettu, Dean (ICSR), IIT Madras, said, “The innovations at the institute have resulted in the filing of 184 patents (Indian and International) during the year 2020. The extensive research related to Covid-19, has led to the institute shortlisting nine IDF (Invention Disclosure Form) to be filed during 2020.”

The IIT Madras in-house IP analytics team also provides support to inventors with a report of comprehensive ‘prior art’ search results. This helps inventors understand the patentability of their inventions and also helps to design around, if needed, before filing patent applications.

Some of the measures introduced by IIT Madras during 2020 to ensure patents filing proceeded smoothly include, organising virtual IDF meetings (Invention Disclosure Form); virtual Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) meetings and ‘Have an Idea’ programme, the release said.

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