India and the Intellectual Properties

While addressing the nation on the COVID-19 pandemic, Prime Minister emphasised the necessity of a self-reliant India and he also talked about being “Vocal for Local”. There seems to be a misconception about the term ‘local’. We need to understand the real meaning of the word ‘local’. Local is not something which is just manufactured in India but it is (and should be) something which is developed and manufactured in-house and that too by the indigenous entities. To realise the full potential within the country and utilizing the resources India will have to make major course changes in development strategies, one of which is to invest heavily in the front of Intellectual Property (IP).

To understand the importance of Intellectual properties we first need to understand what actually is the intellectual property? Well, it is basically creations of the mind, in more easy word; it is inventions. If we want to understand that how the developed countries reach to the point where they are now; we need to look into how they capture the need of the time and showed the world the way forward with the help of IP.

Learning from Japan’s post-war success, countries like South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong took a serious interest in investing in the new technologies during the 1970s and 80s. South Korea climbed up to the top in the technology ladder as it invested heavily on the R&D of electronic goods, automobiles, microprocessors, PCs and heavy machinery. It became a global powerhouse in manufacturing, but with indigenously developed technologies. Taiwan focused on robotics and microprocessors. China has done a huge investment in developing communication technology and product design. It is now focused and is investing heavily in 5G, supercomputing, IOT, (AI), autonomous vehicles, Pharma and other technologies of the ‘fourth industrial revolution’.

Where we are now?

India’s current position is 40^th on the International Intellectual Property (IP) Index out of IP climate in 53 global economies (report of the US Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Centre). Last year India ranked 36^th out of 50 countries.

As per data provided by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, India invests about 0.8% of its GDP on R&D. The figures for China is 2% (not to forget that their GDP is about 4.5 times that of India). China’s investment is now comparable to any developed country, with Germany standing at 2.9% and the U.S. at 2.8%.

Missed chance –

Following the independence India was ahead of most developing countries but in the 1970s and 80s, however, India did not do much on R&D frontier. Also in 1991-92 when India was adopting liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation it chooses to buy technologies from outside rather than inventing in-house.

Hope –

Since the release of 2016 National IPR Policy, the Government of India has made a great effort to support investments in innovation and creativity through increasingly robust IP protection and enforcement. Policy implementation has improved the processing speed for patent and trademark applications. There is also an increased awareness of IP rights among Indian innovators and creators.

India can be a key player in the upcoming technologies. Self-reliant capabilities in electric and fuel cell vehicles, electricity storage systems, solar cells and modules, aircraft including UAVs, AI, robotics and automation, etc are key areas where India can invest to gain the advantage.

To remain ahead in the race in the present competition there is a need for planned state investments in R&D including basic research (3-5% of GDP), technology and policy support to private corporations, investment in education and skill development (4-6% of GDP). The New Education Policy seems to focus on the research and development parts but the real result of the policy can only be seen in the times to come.