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Intellectual property rights (IPR) and patenting are crucial to encourage and nurture innovation in all sectors, especially the medical field, according to Jitender Kumar Sharma, the Managing Director and CEO of Andhra Pradesh Med Tech Zone coming up in Visakhapatnam district.
He was speaking as the chief guest at a function here on Thursday, the World IP Day, organised to mark the establishment of an IPR academy by a local company, Novel Patent Services Pvt Ltd. He said IPR should be protected, but the government does have the right in certain exceptional cases to relax the IPR rules in order to make available an essential drug, such as the one for treating breast cancer in women, at much cheaper rates.
He said the AP MedTech park coming up here was the first of its kind in the country, and medical equipment would be manufactured at much cheaper rates, at roughly 30 per cent of the global costs. “These processes and products will have to be protected through IPR,” he added.
A memorandum of understanding was signed between the Kalam Institute of Health Technology, Vizag, and the Novel IPR Academy on the occasion. A Novel IPR magazine was also released.
Himabindu Atti, the Managing Director of Novel Patent Services, explained the objectives of the academy.
“We intend to promote awareness about IPR in engineering colleges, MSMEs, start-ups and other sections. We will build up IP culture and eco-system in the State. We will also offer licensing and commercialisation services, and bring IPR within the reach of everyone,” she said.
Bijay Kumar Sahu, Deputy Manager of the National Research Development Corporation (NRDC), said innovation should be adaptable, accessible and affordable for which IPR is crucial.
Ravi Eswarapu, president of the AP IT Association, spoke on the importance of IPR for start-ups and KRK Prasad, the Director of the MSME Institute, highlighted the need for MSMEs to adopt to the IPR regime.
Aditya Venkateswara NC, a patent examiner of the Indian Patent Office, spoke about the aspects governing patent grant.
Muralikrishna, Director and founder of Novel Patent Services, said efforts would be made to set up IPR cells in all engineering colleges in the State.
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