New Delhi, Nov 19 (KNN) India is encouraging the spirit of innovation among the educated enterprising youth by skilling them and supporting through the schemes like Start-Up and MUDRA, said M Venkaiah Naidu, Vice President of India.

Addressing the gathering after inaugurating the International Conference ‘Asian Patent Attorneys Association’ in Delhi, he said number of initiatives have been taken by the governments to create an ecosystem that fosters manufacturing.

Government has also identified key areas such as auto industry, information technology, aviation, biotechnology, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, electronics and entertainment for innovation and manufacturing, as there is immense scope of technology and investment in these areas, he added.

Stressing on the importance of innovation, Naidu said “Innovation is for the betterment of mankind and India is encouraging the spirit of innovation among the educated enterprising youth.”

The Minister for Law & Justice, Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Minister for Commerce and Industry, Suresh Prabhu, and more than 1350 participants from over 65 countries and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.

He further said that knowledge and intellect are the most critical ingredients in development. It was essential to adopt innovative and creative balancing mechanisms.

About Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), Vice President said “IPR hold special importance in the knowledge economy.”

He said that the new regime of intellectual Property Rights bring a paradigm shift in social exchanges and cultural ethos in communities especially at a time when the world had moved away from viewing knowledge as a mere community asset started treating it as intellectual property.

Talking about the changing factors in all economies, the Vice President said that the emphasis on tangible hard assets is being shifted to intangible soft assets and intellectual properties.

 India fully recognizes that an effective and robust intellectual property protection regime is essential to attract technology, investment, incentivize innovation and creation of IP assets, he added.

Elaborating more, Naidu said “As the communities’ transit to new phase of IP based economy, no conversation on intellectual property rights can be complete without considering the balance of the rights and obligations of IP holders and define what constitutes a genuine, path-breaking intellectual property?

Naidu said that Indian patent system contains some built-in safeguards to bring about a balance between rights and obligations as these measures are consistent with TRIPS Agreement.

As a member of WTO, India made laws that are compliant with the global regime. National IPR Policy has been approved and published by the government in May 2016, he added.

Saying that Government aims to make India a major hub for end-to-end indigenous drug manufacturing in the next few years, the Vice President said that the IP sensitive, Indian pharmaceuticals industry is expected to expand at a compounded annual growth rate of over 15 per cent to 55 billion US dollars in the next three years.

He said that the issue of IPR assumes a great significance for us as India in the last few years has emerged as the fastest growing economy in the world.

With an expected growth in the range of 7.5% during next few years, as projected by the IMF and the World Bank, we are one of the most preferred destinations for investments in today’s world, he further added.