Europe-India IP Dialogue: An Enabler for Research & Innovation

The European Business and Technology Centre (EBTC) and the European Patent Office (EPO), together with Indian partners, organised the “Europe-India IP Dialogue” in Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad.

.Co-organisers and partners were:

In Mumbai, the IIT Bombay;

In Delhi, the National Research and Development Corporation (NRDC) and the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA)

In Ahmedabad, the Gujarat University (GU), Gujarat Innovation Society (GIS), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GCCI), Gujarat Electronics & Software Industries Association (GESIA), IIM Ahmedabad's Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE), and the Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University (PDPU).

The interactive sessions acknowledged the direct impact of Research and Innovation (R&I) and multilateral, international research collaborations on increased patent filings. It also recognized that while India and Europe have strong innovation traditions, they filed only 2% and 5% of patents globally in 2015, and that synergies between the two regions has the potential to be a boost on both sides. They marked the beginning of an increased bilateral IP dialogue between India and Europe, highlighting the relevance of a robust intellectual property (IP) ecosystem in India and the value of a bilateral outlook on India-made innovation with a particular focus on automobile and biotechnology, pharma as well as healthcare:

The automobile sector is playing an important and growing role in India, being one of the fastest growing automobile industries in the world and one of the largest exporters. Innovation, and consequently also patenting activity, has increased substantially in the last few years. Whilst Chennai, Pune and Gurugram are the traditional main manufacturing centres in India, Gujarat is currently coming up as a new and dynamic hub.

India is among the top biotechnology destinations in the world. India’s biotechnology industry, a traditionally strong sector in the Indian economy, is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 20%, with bio-pharmaceuticals making up over 60% of the total revenues.

The technical sessions were delivered by EPO Examiners from Munich who also shed light on the EPO’s footprint in India and EPO tools and procedures. The sessions linked the technical perspective and a more macroeconomic one and brought together key stakeholders of the Indian R&I community, the industry, incubators, academia, local governments and public sector organizations, European representatives, as well as IP attorneys.

This dialogue aims to pave the way for future initiatives that help foster the Indian IP ecosystem and empower the startup and R&I communities, resulting in increasing India-Europe collaborations.