Panel II discussions at the Round Table on Innovation in India, during the IIPC Conference

Inderpreet Sawhney pointed out that despite the growth of innovation in India, patent filing had remained stagnant and suggested solutions. “Our IP regime and lack of opportunities for monetization are potential reasons for the stagnation,” she said. Prof. Balganesh explained that from a legal standpoint, there were three issues important for the Indian innovation policy: seeking innovation policy from sources other than a narrow focus on induced innovation, better co-ordination between various branches of government, and the need to acknowledge that in crafting policy, certain trade-offs were inevitable.

Prof. Graham spoke about the role of the patent system as a measure of the success or failure of the innovation ecosystem in the country and added, “Patent data is a valuable tool to evaluate government policy around innovation.” He also emphasised the need to make data of patents more transparent and bring it to the researchers.

Manoj Kumar Bhatt suggested that one should not lose sight of the importance of social innovation when it comes to solving problems in sectors like agriculture, healthcare and others in which basic issues were yet to be addressed. “We must move beyond a culture of high technology and app-building and think about how we can leverage innovation for maximum social impact. We should also create an ecosystem that not only provides funding, but more efficient solutions,” he added.

Srinivas Prasad focussed on the role of innovation in healthcare. He pointed out that some of the challenges in this sector were scale, availability, accessibility and affordability. He also mentioned the need to focus on the BOP markets, seeking ways to make investment profitable without compromising on quality and reliability.