Professor Unnat P Pandit, Controller General of Patents, Design and Trademarks (CGGPDTM), Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, has emphasised on the need of doing invention which is relevant to the needs of the society and exhorted the faculty members and research scholars of the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) to keep in mind the purpose for which they are acquiring knowledge. He was delivering inaugural speech in a day-long workshop organised by the Intellectual Property Rights and Technology Transfer (IPRTT) Cell of BHU on Monday. It is learnt that with an aim to promote a vibrant ecosystem on campus facilitating IP filing and promotion of IP awareness, an Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and Technology Transfer (TT) cell was established in BHU under the Coordinatorship of Professor BK Sarma. The objective of organising the workshop was to create awareness and offer hand-holding support to inventors of the university in every aspect of intellectual property (IP) protection and promotion of innovations. The workshop was divided into five sessions including three technical sessions. The workshop was attended by 222 participants. The officers of the university and various deans and directors also attended the sessions. Professor VK Shukla, Rector, BHU, presided over the inaugural session. The first technical session was addressed by Dr Yashawant Dev Panwar, head, Patent Facilitation Centre, TIFAC. He spoke on IPR protection and its necessity and explained all forms of IP and the criteria for the protection. He emphasised that industry and academia have conflicting values but there is a common interest to bridge the gap which is the commercialisation of technologies. Sudarshan Singh Shekhawat, Patent Attorney, addressed the second technical session on facilitating and maintenance and emphasised the culture of confidentiality while doing research. The third session was addressed by Dr Suresh, Manager, Gujarat State Fertilisers and Chemicals who spoke on the technology transfer of IP-protected technologies. Prof RN Kharwar, Prof RK Murali and Prof Gopal Nath moderated the different technical sessions. Dr RK Singh, Dr Alok Kumar and Dr Priya Ranjan Kumar were the rapporteurs of different sessions.
According to the coordinator of IPRTT Cell of BHU Prof Birinchi Kumar Sarma, the workshop has created a mass enthusiasm among the faculty members and researchers regarding the need of protection of Intellectual Property and promoting innovations in the university. He said it is very much likely that much more filing of patents will take place from the university in near future. According to him, patent filing is not only important for protection of intellectual property of the inventions but also helps in global ranking of the academic institutions. Dr Rajnish Kumar Singh, co-convener of the workshop presented the report of the workshop and said that more than 222 participants both faculty members and research scholars of the university participated in the workshop and interacted with the experts. The participants were from almost all disciplines of science, agriculture, arts, commerce, law, medicine, ayurveda, performing and visual arts, education, etc. of the university.
In the final session Prof Arun Kumar Singh, Registrar, BHU was the chief guest and he gave the genesis of the IPR Cell and talked about the support university is providing to the cell. In his address he also talked about the feedback given by the participants and promised that the university will provide necessary support to the cell as per the need.