STIMULATING INNOVATION THROUGH IP AWARD COMPETITION PROGRAMMES: NATIONAL EXPERIENCES

Lalbee S
Jul 24, 2023
4 min read

Written by S. Lalbee, Law Student

Introduction:

Intellectual property has elevated itself to a pedestal in the context of economic expansion in the face of increased global competition and has become more crucial than ever. The fuel that runs the engine of wealth, stimulating discovery and innovation, is intellectual property. As an intangible asset, intellectual property is crucial to the socioeconomic ecology, and its production and preservation are crucial for a country's long-term development. Business organizations are being forced to actively manage the role of IP as a major driver for creating and maintaining their competitive advantage and attaining superior performance due to the growing relevance of intangible assets in the global economy.[1]

Innovation and IP:

The Honorable President of India designated this decade to be the Decade of Innovation in recognition of the value of intellectual property. India's future success in the new information economy will depend more and more on its capacity to provide innovative concepts, procedures, and solutions. Innovation is the process by which knowledge is transformed into societal benefit and financial gain.[2] The President urged the populace to increase research spending in order to actively seek innovation. India needed to take advantage of its creative potential in order to boost capacity, productivity, efficiency, and inclusive growth in a highly competitive world. All facets of the economy, including higher education, industry, government, and individuals at all levels, must embrace innovation.

Intellectual Property Right’s Relevance and Significance for the Competitive Programmes:

In the current context of globalization, industries must increase their efforts and capacity for innovation to produce better goods and become more aggressive in defending their ideas. The main business process that enables one to compete successfully in the increasingly competitive global world is innovation, which is the successful exploitation of new ideas. In order to safeguard its own commercial interests in India and abroad, the Indian industry must now fully grasp the legal and financial ramifications of intellectual property protection.[3]

Despite their innate capacity for innovation, Indian business has yet to recognize the potential importance of intellectual property rights. The applications submitted to preserve intellectual property rights make this clear. In India, there are two needs in relation to intellectual property rights:

Improved knowledge of the principles and many elements of IP across the industrial sector;
advanced learning in the field of patents to offer skilled workers who can perform at the top of their game from the start of their careers.

Stimulating Innovation and Objectives:

Out of the 39 clusters funded by the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion under the Industrial Infrastructure Upgradation Scheme (IIUS), the Intellectual Property Office has chosen 12 clusters for the IP Awareness programmes. The training program's overarching goal is to provide both advising and protective services.[4]

to educate the groups about intellectual property rights and how to safeguard them.
To find innovations that can be protected.
To offer suggestions about how to convert innovations into exclusive assets.
To use intellectual property (IP) data, especially that pertaining to patents and designs, for additional research and development in creating new products and processes.
Use the IP information to advance their company

Promoting Innovation Through Competition:

Each of us has a stake in fostering an environment that fosters creativity, which includes the process of commercializing innovations, and where inventions are produced and continue to be made. Given the relevance of technological advancements to the modern economy, it is critical to understand the significance of building an entire company environment that supports innovation. Innovation fosters consumer welfare and economic efficiency through technical progress, which drives economic growth.[5] By developing more effective manufacturing and distribution processes, innovation may reduce costs. Additionally, innovation may result in the release of fresh or enhanced goods that appeal to customers and broaden their selection. Innovation may also result in the creation of new technologies that outperform already existing ones and pave the way for the arrival of new rivals looking to unseat the top companies of the present.

Today, it is commonly accepted that in order to successfully promote innovation, both competitive markets and the protection of intellectual property rights are necessary. This is because each of these factors stimulates creativity in a complimentary manner, providing the ideal incentives for inventive activity.[6] Firms won't have the incentives to invest in the R&D that fosters successful innovation if they are protected from free competition. Innovation and technical development are mostly driven by competition between businesses. Companies are pushed to innovate by competition in order to take advantage of their ideas and gain market share or financial gain by being the first to create and release a new product.

Conclusion:

Additionally, India has created a national framework that complies with international norms and is constantly growing for the establishment and protection of IPRs. To propel the nation into the league of the most inventive and developed nations, the issue facing the nation is to scale up the process of IP creation and generate value from the scientific and technical discoveries.[7] The results of categorizing IPR protection mechanisms show that the use of informal protection mechanisms, such as lead time and trade secrets, promotes the competitiveness of the companies, while the use of formal protection mechanisms, particularly patents, trademarks, and geographical indications, has a detrimental effect on competitiveness. The impact of IPR protection on a company's competitiveness is mediated by its size and innovation profile.

References:

[1] wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2021/01/article_0009.html [2] Ipindia.gov.in/writereaddata/Portal/IPOIPAwareness [3] justice.gov/atr/file/518336/ [4] oecd.org/daf/competition/ [5] sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2444569X18300738 [6] meity.gov.in/ipr-initiatives [7] oecd.org/daf/competition/