For almost last three years, I have been working in the field of Intellectual Property. For those who haven't heard the term, Intellectual Property or IP, relates to creation of Intellect or mind. And just like any other property, for instance real estate property, an owner may lay claim to his or her product of mind (Intellectual Property) through rights known as Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) enforced through Patents, Copyrights, Trademarks, Geographical Indications and the like.
With that background, let me begin my tirade on a topic that is bugging the hell out of me. Last week, I had an opportunity to attend a conference on IP Awareness at Connaught Place (CP), Delhi. I will not give the name of the organizing committee or the illustrious speakers who graced the occasion. Needless to add, there were CEOs, Key R&D personnel, academia luminaries, scientists, government officials, foreign delegates and rest of the sundry, including yours truly.
Everyone was ofcourse on the same page with regard to the fact that IP was going to play a very important role in India's dream of becoming a Global Powerhouse. Further, everyone agreed to the lack of IP awareness and the need to do something about it. But the methods discussed for achieving the same, were truly Indian in every sense of the word. The chair of the first session gave seven points as to what they were doing to create IP awareness. I counted four out of the seven were about some "committee" he had formed to do the same. If creating a committee were the solution to our problems, India would never have had any problem!! By the end of the day-long conference, I was so disillusioned that I immersed myself in.... you know what. I was referring to grief...what did u assume.... twisted mind.
Before I go into discussing everything that is wrong, let me for a minute, dedicate a couple of lines on Why IP is so important to India's future. Every country worth its salt has a strong culture of technological innovation. Take US for instance, the technological advancements there, are driving most things around the world. All major inventions, take Electricity bulb (Thomas Alva Edison), Telephone (Alexander Bell), Steam Engine (James Watt) and there are millions more, have revolutionized our lives. No wonder, with that culture of innovation, most US companies like Microsoft, Apple, GE, IBM are leading the world in their respective segments. What this means to countries like us, is that we are forever doomed to tag along what others have invented and protected through IP enforcement. Unless, of course we create our own technological innovation, our very own IP. Only then can we make our companies compete at a global level and bring home the benefits of capitalism to the burgeoning Indian population.
So how do we create this culture of Innovation? I don't think I am qualified to answer that question, but i want to share something that I noticed while I was pursuing my Masters degree at the University of Maryland (UMD). UMD, like most schools in the US, receives grants from institutions like NASA, NSF, Lockheed and the like, for collaborating on cutting-edge research. The professors at most of these schools are leading thinkers in their field and they in collaboration with the scientists at the institutions chip away at some of most baffling problems troubling humankind. Further, most schools in US follow what is called the 'tenure system'. The professors in the schools have to work towards 'tenure' which basically means, a permanent association with the school. For getting the tenure, the professor is not only graded on the course content and the student feedback, but most importantly on the research papers published and the contribution to cutting edge research alongwith the grants that come along with it. This simple last line, implies that each professor in the US is accountable with regard to research and his or her contribution to technological innovation. The professors are not only forced to come with new ideas, but are also forced to sync those ideas with industry problems so that they may then approach the industry for grants. The professor and the grant giving institutions then work in collaboration to make the research culminate into a solvable problem.
Further, the professors employ students in the form of Research Assistants and direct them towards achieving the objective. Some of my friends while working as RAs, stumbled upon inventive concepts and now have patents to their names. So, this simple accountable system called the 'tenure system' combined with healthy interaction between industry and academic institutions have ensured that US stays at the forefront of technological innovation. Imagine, thousands of US Schools with hundred professors each, working their backsides off, trying to create magic. I am not too sure, how the system works at the IITs, but I am dead sure that there are brilliant professors and students around and we can achieve the above by getting some accountability into all our schools.
The second and infact slightly more important factor is the law. There is no use of talking about technological innovation and IP, if there is no way to protect the rights of those who invested time, effort and money to make it work. In fact, the law is the biggest hindrance to a majority of our problems. Let me give you a simple example, in US as we all know, every house has at least three cars (the lack of mass transit options is appalling). That means there are a million cars on the street leading to congestion and related pollution issues. One of the solutions they came up with was a 'Carpool lane'. It is the most amazingly simple concept yet very powerful. The 'Carpool lane' is a lane on a freeway (highway) that is dedicated to vehicles carrying more than one passenger. In US most people often travel alone to work. Now to use the Carpool lane, which is relatively free as compared to other lanes on the freeway stuck in traffic jam, most people leaving in neighboring areas come together so that they can use the Carpool lane and reach to office on time. So not only has the number of vehicles reduced on the street as more people are driving together, but also the amount of petrol consumption has gone down with reduced pollution overall. Fantastic.
So coming back to the point of law, the US can have the Carpool lane (and not run into problems like we did for the BRT corridor) because they have a law in place. The moment somebody driving alone moves into a Carpool lane, he gets caught and punished appropriately. In India, without a system in place to catch the offenders, we can never get to implement anything. And with the Tata Nano and other such cars ready to hit the market, it is about time we get our act in place. This is not just one isolated instance, where the enforcement of law is hurting technological innovation or even the traffic on streets. Most of our problems have been because the law has not been able to punish the offenders.
So where does this leave India? Good question. Methinks, getting law in place and that too a expedited version (not the 20 year prolonged process) is critical. The schools form a fulcrum of most things the country bases its dream on. You strengthen the base, and most things will fall in place. And please no more committees !!
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