IIT Kanpur has achieved a milestone in filing for intellectual property rights (IPR). A record-breaking filing of 107 patents for the year 2021 bears testimony to the institute’s flourishing and dynamic research and development ecosystem.
Among the 107 IPRs filed, the different IPR prospects included 62 patents, 15 design registrations, two copyrights, and 24 trademark applications, along with 4 US patent applications.
The patents included inventions ranging from MedTech to Nanotechnology, including the two prominent COVID-19 reusable facemasks comprising PVDF Composite Nanofibers and Nasal Spray Formulation against COVID-19 and Related Respiratory Viruses.
Prof Abhay Karandikar, Director, IIT Kanpur, said that the institute has about 810 IPRs in total. “With an exceptional technology transfer rate of 15.2% to industry partners from the total patents filed, the institute filed a record-breaking 107 patents in this calendar year. This is quite an achievement for the institute and is also indicative of the fact that, despite the pandemic, IIT Kanpur has diligently driven structural initiatives strengthening translational and transformational research contributing to a self-reliant India.”
Filing 107 IPRs at IIT Kanpur was achieved with a supportive policy framework and synergistic teamwork at the IPR Cell of the institute. As a result, the IP & Technology Transfer Office filed the highest number of IPRs. It facilitated the highest number of technology transfer transactions, disseminating technologies from the institute laboratory to the assembly line of industries in the form of products.
The commercialisation activities at IIT Kanpur have witnessed a two-fold increase in revenues from IP licensing. The institute addressed the nation’s oxygen crisis during the second wave of COVID-19 by developing and commercialising two oxygen concentrators by transferring the said technology to six different companies. The technology transfer of oxygen concentrators was part of the Mission Bharat Oxygen project wherein thousands of oxygen concentrators were manufactured, having capacities ranging from 10 LPM to 500 LPM.
