Government asks academia to collaborate with companies for creating intellectual property

29 Apr 2024 , 02:54 PM

According to news reports, the government has asked academic institutions to collaborate with technology startups for creating more local intellectual property assets in areas such a Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning etc.

The reports added that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is pushing multinational companies like Nokia, Ericsson, Cisco, and Qualcomm to collaborate with university institutions and work on new technologies as part of its attempts to create intellectual property rights (IPRs) and build locally created products.

One of the officials, who wished to remain anonymous, stated to ET, “The government is targeting at least 3% of IPRs in next-generation essential patents by 2027 in mobile telecom technologies.” The official also stated that the government hopes to capture 3% of the worldwide telecom equipment market during this time.

“The locally built 4G/5G stack is operating without any issues. The stack is being used by BSNL, and moving forward, it will be transferred to other nations, the representative stated.

The government will probably fund promising ideas through the Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF) in order to fulfil its goals. The fund aims to support the ecosystem for telecom product design, research, prototyping, testing, proof of concept, IPR creation, field testing, security, certification, and manufacture.

In light of the geopolitical unpredictability, the government has been emphasizing the importance of being self-sufficient in telecom technology, encompassing both hardware and software. According to officials, it may be accomplished by growing the nation’s entire ecosystem and emphasizing research and development, which includes collaborations between industry and academia.

To date, companies that have announced partnerships with institutions include Qualcomm and Ericsson.

In answer to a query concerning international companies collaborating with Indian entities to generate intellectual property rights, Ericsson CEO Borje Ekholm recently told ET, “We look at different opportunities to move forward.” We’ll watch to see how that develops. This has the potential to be quite intriguing in an open radio access network (RAN) environment where several radio suppliers will be required.

Plans by the Department of Transportation (DoT) call for India to contribute 5% of worldwide research expenditures to projects including networks, wideband spectrum sensing, autonomous control and communication in mobility, and intelligent reflector surfaces.

Officials claim that India has the third-largest tech startup environment in the world, and Indian manufacturers require ongoing assistance in the form of commercial prospects.

In addition to sponsoring entrepreneurs through the TTDF, the government helps them secure money from venture capital (VC) firms. A few months prior, the Department of Technology (DoT) arranged a pitching session for 25 businesses specializing in 5G-enabled AI drones, cybersecurity, Internet of Things, quantum communications, and satellite-based navigation systems. The firms presented their concepts to 13 venture capitalists from Uganda, India, and the UK.

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