CII, IPO organise National Intellectual Property (IP) Awards: 2016

Recognises the use of IPRs as a strategic tool in commerce and industry

National Intellectual Property (IP) Awards: 2016 was recently held in New Delhi. Constituted jointly by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Indian Patents Office (IPO), the National Intellectual Property Awards are given every year since 2009 recognising the use of IPRs as a strategic tool in commerce and industry.

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur won the award for the top Indian academic institution for patents. The award for top R&D institution/organisation for patents was won by C-DOT. Tata Consultancy Services was felicitated the award for top Indian public limited company for patents as well as the WIPO IP Enterprise Trophy. Mahindra & Mahindra was conferred the honours in three different categories, namely, best commercialisation of patents based products / processes in India, top organisation in trademarks and WIPO users Trophy. The winner in the category of top organisation for designs was Triveni Turbine while MSN Laboratories won the award for top indian private company (MSME) for patents.

Dr Prakash R Somani was awarded in the category of top Individual for patents. He was also honoured with the WIPO Medal for Inventors while Prof Ganesh Shankar Hingmire was awarded in the category of top individual for best facilitation of Registration of GI and promotion of registered GI in India.

Comprising a winning amount of Rs one lakh in cash and a citation, the awards are evaluated on the basis of number of IPRs granted / registered, growth in IPR portfolio in the past five years, leveraging of IPRs for achieving commercial goals (valuation, licensing, launching of new products / processes associated with granted / registered IPRs), efforts for inculcating IPR culture (R&D budget, employment of human resources for R&D, collaborations with industries and universities, licensing from other sources) and contribution towards the socio-economic development of the country.

Conferring the awards on the eve of World Intellectual Property Day celebrations, Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Commerce and Industry mentioned that Government of India is committed to opening up new avenues for women and Intellectual Property is one such field which does not limit their progress.