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Wanted: Indian inventors

US,UK firms are looking to strike deals with patent-holders here
Abhay Vaidya. Pune
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Signalling a new trend in the knowledge economy, the Americans and Brits have come shopping for India's best and brightest. They're looking to strike deals with inventors and patent-holders. They have identified potential winners and are seeking exclusive marketing and profit-sharing contracts with them. With Indian universities and institutes of research not fully exploiting development patents and their commercialisation, it's opened a window of opportunity for firms such as Radix Global Solutions, Imperial Innovations India (i2india) and others. In a span of just three months, Radix and i2india have already approached city researcher Kalpana Joshi who has three American patents to her credit, and offered to enter into agreements with her. A reader in electronics at the SP College, two of Joshi's patents are on 'moisture measurement' which have enormous commercial potential in the foodgrains and agri-produce storage industry. While Joshi and other inventors here could certainly benefit, there is apprehension in the scientific community about the secrecy and non-disclosure clauses in these agreements.

Apart from meetings with Radix representatives Stephen C Jones (COO) and Krishnan Venkataraman (India country coordinator), Chris Mathias, chairman of i2india, which is a part of Imperial Innovations, UK, approached Joshi inquiring if she had "any IP (intellectual property)/discovery which you think can be commercially exploited." Mathias informed her that former CSIR director-general RA Mashelkar and former head of Ranbaxy DS Brar were on their advisory board while i2india's shareholders included Imperial College, UK, Tata Sons and Lord Karan Billimoria (owner of Cobra Beer). Incidentally, on January 21, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) signed a pact with i2india Holdings "to tap and drive innovation" for industrial and social development. Undecided on the offers, Joshi says one fallout of this new trend could be that Indian agencies themselves realise the importance of patents and their commercial potential. "In any country, barely 5% of the patents are commercialised. In India, patent awareness is very poor and the commercialising network is extremely weak. This situation could change with the arrival of American and British firms," Joshi said. Familiar with the patent filing procedures at the CSIR and the NRDC (National Research Development Council), Joshi told DNA the "secrecy clause" in the contracts of the US and British firms was far more stringent than that of Indian establishments. Radix's Venkataraman who is an alumnus of Harvard and IIT Mumbai, told DNA that his firm has received "an extremely positive response" throughout India. "We are in an advanced stage of consultation with the IITs and IISC (Indian Institute of Science)," Venkataraman said.

Radix describes itself as a "global consultancy company committed to helping innovators, businesses, universities and research institutes simplify the commercialisation process." The firm offers a "unique integration of legal and business consulting services with a pioneering remuneration model which involves no up-front cost or financial liabilities on the inventor". "Patents are badly protected in India. There are hundreds of ideas in India which are lying untapped. We see ourselves as catalysts to turn these ideas into products and technologies. Without a good catalyst, ideas can remain buried for ever," he added. When asked about Radix's profit-sharing model with inventors, Venkataraman said the profit-sharing "depends on the product and to which stage the invention has reached in its product realisation."