Jitendra Singh promotes StartUp protection for innovation.

The ‘StartUps Intellectual Property Protection' (SIPP) scheme is aimed at promoting innovation and entrepreneurship in the country, Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh said.

In his inaugural address at the ‘National Intellectual Property Festival’, organised by the CSIR at the National Physical Laboratory here, he said: "The filing of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) including Patents and Trademark by StartUps, along with Industry linkages will encourage innovation and motivate enterprise in India." 

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after the government came up with the IPR Act in 2016, the Trademark Registration process has come down to one month, which was more than one year earlier, he said.

“Soon after this, 'StartUps Intellectual Property Rights Protection' scheme was brought in, which envisages 80 per cent rebate in patent filing and 40 per cent-50 per cent rebate vis-a-vis the Industry and the companies,” the minister said.

Singh said that Prime Minister Modi has launched several schemes which supplement each other to reinforce the StartUp ecosystem and their Capacity Building. 

“In the last nine years, PM Modi has given esteem to science and scientists and also raised it as a subject of international deliberations. Even during his just concluded US visit, the predominant subject in the Joint Statement is science related issues, - from semiconductors to space to International Space Station, Artemis Accords,” Singh said.

“In Global Innovation Index we have jumped 31 places - from 81 to 40; in Startup ecosystem we started very late, in 2016 when PM Modi gave a call from the Red Fort in his Independence Day address, but in just a couple of years we have gone to the No 3 ranking in the Startup ecosystem in the world,” he added.

Singh called for combining the digital repository of traditional knowledge and heritage with the modern scientific innovation and by institutionalising this mechanism, "we can gain cutting edge in sectors such as Khadi, Aroma Mission and Lavender cultivation".

"I am convinced this is one of the best times happening, optimum times happening, and if we are into this StartUp IPR protection, we have the advantage of supplementing our StartUp ventures with our traditional knowledge, which is not happening as frequently as it could happen here. And if we do that, we would actually have an edge over other countries,” he said.

“Today, we are equal partners with other nations in technology application. In Quantum Computing, for example, we are in the same league as the developed world,” Singh added.(IANS/NJ)