New Delhi, Apr 27 (KNN) In order to encourage, nurture, protect and sustain innovation in all the sectors, Intellectual property rights (IPR) and patenting is crucial for India’s growth, said Jitender Kumar Sharma, the Managing Director and CEO of Andhra Pradesh Med Tech Zone.

Invited as a Chief Guest on World IP day commemorating the establishment of IPR academy by a local company, Novel Patent Services Pvt Ltd, he said that the IPR should be protected in all the sectors of economy, especially the medical fields.

But in some exceptional cases, government does have the right to relax IPR rules in order to make certain essential drugs available in the economy such as the one for treating breast cancer in women at cheaper rates, he added.

Kumar said that the AP Med Tech Park is coming up in Visakhapatnam that will provide medical equipments at much cheaper rates, at roughly around 30 percent of the global costs.

These processes and products will have to be protected through IPR, he added.

During the event, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Kalam Institute of Health Technology, Vizag, and the Novel IPR Academy on the occasion.

Also, a Novel IPR magazine was released during the event.

On explaining the objectives of the academy, Himabindu Atti, the Managing Director of Novel Patent Services, said that the role of the academy is to create and promote awareness about IPR in engineering colleges, MSMEs, start-ups and other sections.

Aiming to build IP culture and eco-system in the State, he said that we will offer licensing and commercialization services and bring IPR within the reach of everyone.

Bijay Kumar Sahu, Deputy Manager of the National Research Development Corporation (NRDC), said that the innovation should be adaptable, accessible and affordable for which IPR is crucial.

Ravi Eswarapu, president of the AP IT Association, spoke on the importance of IPR for start-ups and KRK Prasad, the Director of the MSME Institute, highlighted the need for MSMEs to adapt to the IPR regime.

Aditya Venkateswara NC, a patent examiner of the Indian Patent Office, spoke about the aspects governing patent grant and Muralikrishna, Director and founder of Novel Patent Services, said efforts would be made to set up IPR cells in all engineering colleges in the State. (KNN/YV)