National level IP Yatra Program organized by PHDCCI Shimla, 22nd March 2024 - PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry with the support of the Office of the Development Commissioner MSME, Ministry of MSME, Govt. of India is organizing a Two-Day National Level Intellectual Property (IP) Rights Programme during 22nd and 23rd March 2024 at Hotel Holiday Home, Shimla (H.P.)
On this occasion, Shri Ateesh Kumar Singh, Joint Secretary, Ministry of MSME, Govt. of India appreciated PHD Chamber’s efforts in organizing this program in the state of Himachal Pradesh. During his address, he said that Himachal Pradesh has a lot of innovative ideas and the scope of IPRs is very crucial here. He further mentioned that Himachal has a potential to identify more GI tagged products and encouraged the business community to identify more traditional products of the State and get them registered under GI. He further apprised about various schemes of the Ministry of MSME, Govt. of India for the benefit of MSMEs stating that MSMEs have emerged as a highly vibrant and dynamic sector of the Indian economy.
Participating in the programme, Shri A K Gautam, IEDS, Assistant Director, Gr-I/ Head of Office, MSME-DFO, Solan, Ministry of MSME, Govt. of India mentioned about the role of MSME-DFO, in promoting the growth and development of MSMEs for which the Government is providing the required hand-holding support and assistance to the MSMEs of Himachal Pradesh. He further apprised about various schemes of the Ministry including the MSME Support for Commercialization of IP (MSME-SCIP) Programme, MSME Innovative Scheme and also mentioned about the Technology Transfer Facilitation Centre (TTFC) and various reimbursement schemes of the Ministry. He urged MSMEs to come forward and take the benefit from the PHDCCI IPFC Centres.
Dr. H P Kumar, Former CMD, NSIC and Advisor, PHDCCI in his theme address mentioned about the need for promoting IPRs to provide competitive strengths to the MSME sector in the domestic and export markets. He stated that intellectual property is the most valuable asset as compared to any other physical assets and IP can be useful for raising resources and the monetary and economic benefits. He also invited all the MSMEs to attend the IP Helpdesk Camp which is scheduled on the next day to get one-to-one filing support and getting their queries resolved regarding any IP issues.
Shri D P Goel, Co-Chair, MSME Committee, PHDCCI in his industry remarks mentioned the role of innovations amongst the entrepreneurs. He highlighted that innovation is the key to survival and success of any industry advising the need to protect these innovations by filing them in respective IPRs to stay ahead in the competition.
Shri Narender Bhardwaj, Chair, Himachal Pradesh State Chapter of PHDCCI in his address highlighted the importance of intellectual property for MSMEs and start-ups. He mentioned the role of PHDCCI in creating awareness amongst the MSMEs about various schemes of the Ministry and said that the whole world is eyeing on India as it is the fastest growing economy.
Shri Vishal Chauhan, Co-Chair, Himachal Pradesh State Chapter of PHDCCI in his concluding remarks mentioned that academics and industry collaboration is needed to make the IP ecosystem more robust in the country. He also thanked all the dignitaries and the participants for sparing their valuable time and joining in this important programme.
Shri Gaurav Gogia, Principal Associate, United and United in his address highlighted the four essential components in IP i.e. identifying IP, protection of IP, commercialization of IP and enforcement of intellectual property rights. He also mentioned that the industry, academia, Government and enforcement agencies should collaborate to build a holistic IP regime and make the IP ecosystem more robust.
Ms Kanchan Zutshi, Director, PHDCCI moderated the inaugural session and mentioned and highlighted the various issues which were going to be deliberated in this IP Yatra Programme and the importance of intellectual property for the growth of economic development of the country. She also mentioned about the Stanford Innovation and Entrepreneurship Programs where innovators are earning royalty out of their innovations.
The inaugural session was followed by technical sessions wherein experts namely Shailesh Vatsgotri, Assistant Director, MSME, DFO, Solan, Ministry of MSME, Govt. of India, Shri Vasant Chandra, Head Prosecution, United and United and Shri Akash Chaudhary, Associate, United and United elaborated on the overview of IPR and highlighted some recent issues raised because of IP violations, topics related to registering IP and its procedures, patent informatics, commercialization and tech transfer and also from the gamut of IP related topics which are essential for businesses to grow and scale-up. Shri Anil Saunkhala, Resident Director, PHDCCI also addressed the technical session by giving a concluding remarks and vote of thanks.
The two-day programme will cover topics on enforcement of intellectual property rights, consequences of IP infringements in India. The programme will also have an IP Helpdesk Camp for resolving queries related to IP matters by connecting the MSMEs, start- ups and other stakeholders with IP experts of PHDCCI IPFC Centre.
On this occasion, senior Govt. officials from the Centre and State, senior officials of PHDCCI and IPR experts from United and United participated in the programme. The programme had participation of people including MSMEs, start-ups, students from law and technical universities, prospective entrepreneurs and innovators, esteemed dignitaries from the industry.