Engineering students need training in filing patents as most colleges ignore the patenting process and focus only on publishing their work in research journals
AICTE has recently joined hands with the Office of Controller General of Patents, Designs Trade Marks (CGPDTM) to strengthen the patent filing process in the engineering colleges. Ministry on Education (MoE) has set up Institutional Innovation Council (IIC) along with AICTE to systematically foster the culture of innovation and start-up ecosystem in education institutions in engineering colleges.The collaboration with CGPDTM will help in increase the patent filing process, which has not picked up pace so far.
AICTE and CGPDTM will jointly encourage students to actively participate in innovation and entrepreneurship related activities such as ideation, problem solving, proof of concept development, design thinking, IPR, project handling and management at pre-incubation/Incubation stage, etc, so that innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem gets established and stabilised in HEIs.
The National Intellectual Property Awareness Mission (NIPAM) and AICTE’s Kalam Programme for IP Literacy and Awareness (KAPILA) initiated in 2021, helped boost innovation in HEIs which led to an uptick in filing of patents in the engineering domain. Engineering colleges in Punjab and UP have been proactively filing patents thanks to growing awareness. Colleges in Gujarat have always prioritised the patenting process.
Speaking to Education Times, Unnat P Pandit, controller general, office of patents, designs and trademarks, says, “The patenting ecosystem in the engineering educational domain has a huge potential to create Intellectual Property (IP). Hence it is essential to encourage the students fully adopt it. The patent culture can be strengthened by motivating the engineering students to design innovative solutions and prototypes to solve the grassroot challenges of the country. IP protection should be given to the students for the designs and inventions that they create.”
Limited awareness
The awareness about intellectual property and patent filing in engineering colleges is not substantial, thus the teachers and students must learn more about its potential. “The latest collaboration with AICTE will catalyse the process in approximately 10,000 AICTE-affiliated engineering and pharmacy colleges. Interestingly, approximately 20-25% of the projects that are undertaken by engineering students have the potential for IP protection, but they are not proactively filing the patent. Hence rigorous training needs to be given to the students, which will create a culture of patenting in the engineering colleges. Most of the academic institutions only focus on publication of journals and are ignoring the patenting process,” adds Pandit.
CGPTDM has been running NIPAM since December 2021 and has conducted training programmes on Intellectual Property Rights in 2,500 colleges that comprise engineering institutes, pharmacy colleges and central universities. So far, about 24 lakh students and faculties have been trained. In 2018, around 6,786 patents were filed in the engineering academic domain. “Post-2018, there has been an increase of 247% in the filing of patents in the academic institutions. In 2023, about 23,586 patents were filed, where IITs have taken the lead. Some of the private engineering and pharmacy colleges too filed the patents. MoU with AICTE will enable more private engineering and pharmacy colleges to adopt the process of filing for patents,” adds Pandit.
Buddha Chandrashekhar, chief coordinating officer, AICTE, says, “We have included the provision of patenting in the latest AICTE approval process handbook of 2024-25 to 2026-27. Due to the advent of new emerging technologies, strengthening the patenting ecosystem within the engineering domain is critical for the academic as well as professional interests of students.”
At a recent EV design competition, engineering students demonstrated several innovative products worth patenting. “Students developed different customisable models of EV that have the potential for the filing of patents. Recently, Go-carting missions were customised by the students. Through the KAPILA programme, students can submit their patent application at a very low cost. MoU with CGPDTM will ensure that patents are routinely filed in engineering colleges,” adds Chandrashekhar.
AICTE has recently joined hands with the Office of Controller General of Patents, Designs Trade Marks (CGPDTM) to strengthen the patent filing process in the engineering colleges. Ministry on Education (MoE) has set up Institutional Innovation Council (IIC) along with AICTE to systematically foster the culture of innovation and start-up ecosystem in education institutions in engineering colleges.The collaboration with CGPDTM will help in increase the patent filing process, which has not picked up pace so far.
AICTE and CGPDTM will jointly encourage students to actively participate in innovation and entrepreneurship related activities such as ideation, problem solving, proof of concept development, design thinking, IPR, project handling and management at pre-incubation/Incubation stage, etc, so that innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem gets established and stabilised in HEIs.
The National Intellectual Property Awareness Mission (NIPAM) and AICTE’s Kalam Programme for IP Literacy and Awareness (KAPILA) initiated in 2021, helped boost innovation in HEIs which led to an uptick in filing of patents in the engineering domain. Engineering colleges in Punjab and UP have been proactively filing patents thanks to growing awareness. Colleges in Gujarat have always prioritised the patenting process.
Speaking to Education Times, Unnat P Pandit, controller general, office of patents, designs and trademarks, says, “The patenting ecosystem in the engineering educational domain has a huge potential to create Intellectual Property (IP). Hence it is essential to encourage the students fully adopt it. The patent culture can be strengthened by motivating the engineering students to design innovative solutions and prototypes to solve the grassroot challenges of the country. IP protection should be given to the students for the designs and inventions that they create.”
Limited awareness
The awareness about intellectual property and patent filing in engineering colleges is not substantial, thus the teachers and students must learn more about its potential. “The latest collaboration with AICTE will catalyse the process in approximately 10,000 AICTE-affiliated engineering and pharmacy colleges. Interestingly, approximately 20-25% of the projects that are undertaken by engineering students have the potential for IP protection, but they are not proactively filing the patent. Hence rigorous training needs to be given to the students, which will create a culture of patenting in the engineering colleges. Most of the academic institutions only focus on publication of journals and are ignoring the patenting process,” adds Pandit.
CGPTDM has been running NIPAM since December 2021 and has conducted training programmes on Intellectual Property Rights in 2,500 colleges that comprise engineering institutes, pharmacy colleges and central universities. So far, about 24 lakh students and faculties have been trained. In 2018, around 6,786 patents were filed in the engineering academic domain. “Post-2018, there has been an increase of 247% in the filing of patents in the academic institutions. In 2023, about 23,586 patents were filed, where IITs have taken the lead. Some of the private engineering and pharmacy colleges too filed the patents. MoU with AICTE will enable more private engineering and pharmacy colleges to adopt the process of filing for patents,” adds Pandit.
Buddha Chandrashekhar, chief coordinating officer, AICTE, says, “We have included the provision of patenting in the latest AICTE approval process handbook of 2024-25 to 2026-27. Due to the advent of new emerging technologies, strengthening the patenting ecosystem within the engineering domain is critical for the academic as well as professional interests of students.”
At a recent EV design competition, engineering students demonstrated several innovative products worth patenting. “Students developed different customisable models of EV that have the potential for the filing of patents. Recently, Go-carting missions were customised by the students. Through the KAPILA programme, students can submit their patent application at a very low cost. MoU with CGPDTM will ensure that patents are routinely filed in engineering colleges,” adds Chandrashekhar.
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