CNN Central News & Network–ITDC India Epress/ITDC News Bhopal: India’s agricultural sector is undergoing a remarkable transformation, embracing innovation and technology at an accelerated pace. To sustain this momentum, as India strives to achieve the “viksit” tag by 2047, a robust Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) environment is crucial for achieving the aspirations of Amrit Kaal.
The experts highlighted the opportunities and challenges in effectively leveraging intellectual property to drive innovation and competitiveness in the seed and biotechnology sectors in India. These challenges include strengthening mechanisms for IP protection and enforcement particularly in seed and biotech sectors, facilitating technology transfer and licensing agreements, navigating complex regulatory frameworks, and building capacity and awareness among stakeholders.
Dr. Raj S Paroda, Founder Chairman, Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences (TAAS) said, “Enabling environment for IPR protection is critical for accelerating new innovations and technologies needed for faster growth of agriculture. When innovators are confident of protection of their rights, they get incentivized to do better and come forward to invest and innovate. For example, investments in research and development of new high-yielding varieties and hybrids, that are resistant to biotic and abiotic stresses. Fortunately, through PPVFRA, we in India have a unique IPR framework which not only protect the rights of plant breeders but also of our farmers.”
Dr. Paroda and other experts were speaking at a national conference titled ‘Innovate, Protect, Prosper: Role of Intellectual Property Protection in taking India’s Seed Sector to the Next Level,’ organised by the Federation of Seed Industry of India (FSII). The scientific and industry experts highlighted the need for a robust IPR environment and effective enforcement that shall boost growth of the seed industry.
Drawing from international lessons, nations have acknowledged the necessity of maintaining a balanced stance on intellectual property rights. Strong IP protection is vital for stimulating innovation and investment Collaborative research endeavors, partnerships between the public and private sectors, and open innovation frameworks have demonstrated their effectiveness in expediting innovation and tackling intricate challenges.
