Though Indian inventors maintain an overwhelming lead over their SAARC counterparts when it comes to filing patents at the international level, nevertheless, it is Sri lanka which pips India in patents’ filing intensity at the domestic level.
A study has found Sri lanka to be the strongest scientific country among the SAARC nations with the highest rate of domestic patent applications per million population (pmp) at 77.3. India is second with 39 domestic patent applications per million population, followed by Pakistan and Bangladesh with 5.5 and 3 patent applications pmp, respectively.
The study added that while India is ahead of Sri lanka in certain technology sectors and even competes with highly developed industrial nations, but in matters of providing a favourable ecosystem for innovation, Sri lanka is better than India. It was found that the number of patents granted between 2001-2010 to Indian inventors at their domestic patent office was just 12 patents pmp compared to 40.1 patents pmp in Sri lanka. Interestingly, in India patents application by foreign inventors was much higher than domestic inventors while this gap in lanka was slimmer.
The study — “Patenting trends among the SAARC nations: Comparing the local and international patenting intensity” — was conducted by a team of experts from India’s Patent Informatics Division of National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resource based in New Delhi.
During the study patenting trends of the SAARC countries were examined in detail with an objective to analyse the patenting behaviour and measure technical output of the SAARC countries.
During the study period 2001-2010 the rate of domestic patent filing changed in India from 1.9 in 2001 to 6.7 patents pmp in 2010 but in Sri lanka it shot up from 6 to 11.5 patents pmp. In Pakistan it came down from 7.5 to 5.1 patents pmp and Bangladesh dropped from 0.38 to 0.21 patents pmp.
“According to the Global Competitive Index (GCI), Sri lanka has by far the highest IP (intellectual property) protection ranking among the SAARC countries and maintains a healthy lead over its counterparts in the region in quality of the education system, intensity of local competition and Knowledge Economy Index”, the study said.
However, Indian inventors were found to be highly active in filling international patents during 2001-2010, while a modest international patenting activity was observed by the remaining SAARC nations. In case of Sri lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh, more than 98% of all patents are solely applied at the respective patent office while number of patents applied at WIPO and USPTO was negligible compared to Indian inventors.
At international level there is a steady growth in the number of patents filed by Indian inventors between 2001-2010. It has increased significantly from 219 to 914 in European Patent Office (EPO), 312 to 2331 in World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and 115 to 1395 in United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
At global level lanka is far behind as a total of 70 patents were filed by inventors from the country at USPTO, WIPO and EPO. There were total 18 patent publications filed by inventors from Pakistan in the three patent offices while nothing was filed by Bangladeshi inventors.