DRDO offers 450 patents for
free access to industries
In a bold move, the Defence
Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has put its over 450 patents for
free access to industries for commercial exploitation. The unprecedented move
is intended to provide a boost to domestic industries, especially in the
strategic sector through free access to patents held by the DRDO, which has a
network of over 50 national laboratories, involved in research and development.
As per a new policy, the DRDO,
under the Ministry of Defence will offer complete access to its patents filed
in India without any licensing or royalty fees. It has displayed both the
procedure and the complete list of technologies on its website.
The technologies, relating to
missiles, life sciences, electronics and communications, naval and aeronautics
systems, combat engineering, electronics, armaments. among others, have
military applications and some have spin offs that can be transferred to
commercial market.
The DRDO has taken the lead as other
leading R&D bodies like the Council of Scientific Industrial Research
(CSIR), Department of Space, National Research and Development Corporation
(NRDC), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Indian Council of
Agricultural Research (ICAR), which have portfolios of national and
international patents offer them for a fee and royalty.
It is welcome step for start ups,
entrepreneurs and industries. “It’s better to offer some patents free than
keeping them in the shelf and pay hefty protection fee for its lifetime. After
all, commercial exploitation is the key factor that should determine patents”,
experts told BusinessLine.
‘Not the first time’
In 2000, when George Fernandes
was the Defence Minister and Dr APJ Abdul Kalam was the Principal Scientific
Advisor to the Government, the DRDO in collaboration with the Confederation of
Indian Industry (CII) organised a major industry meet to transfer technologies
in the DRDO laboratory network. The CII members were given access to potential
technologies of the DRDO labs for commercial exploitation. The move was
promising, but did not yield much result.
Over 15 years ago, Dow Chemicals,
the global multinational chemical giant had in a similar move put out thousands
of its patents for access to Universities in a bid to encourage further
developments and commercial utilisation.
How to Apply:
The industry must apply with a
fee of ₹1000, along with relevant technical and
financial details. It will then be screened by an expert committee and if
eligible a non-exclusive license for one year will be granted.
Earlier, the Defence Ministry had
formulated Transfer of Technology Policy, Make in India initiative, and Defence
Production Policy to encourage domestic industries.
DRDO-Industry Synergy Meet
A one day “DRDO-Industry Synergy
Summit 2019” will be held at the Research Centre Imarat (RCI) Hyderabad on
Friday. Nearly 300 small, medium and large industries are expected to take
part.
The topics of discussions include
latest policy framework and opportunities created, high technology
collaborations and defence manufacturing, defence export and a Panel discussion
on challenges and opportunities for Indian industries.
Source | Business Line | 22nd November 2019
Regards
Mr. Pralhad Jadhav
Research Scholar (IGNOU)
Senior Manager @ Knowledge Repository
Khaitan & Co
Mobile @ 9665911593
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