Last week, I was invited to share experiences on how the UK links intellectual property rights with increased innovation, entrepreneurship and economic growth at ASSOCHAM’s 2nd ICI Summit. The theme of the event was ‘India: Entrepreneurial, Creative & Innovative’. 
The highlight of the conference was the Chief Guest’s address by Mr. YS Chowdhary, Hon’ble Minister of State for Science, Technology and Earth Sciences, in which he highlighted some of the current government’s initiatives to spur a spirit of innovation in the country.
The event saw several government and industry representatives sharing their thoughts on building an environment conducive to innovation in India. My talk focused on the UK’s IP framework, and how it has served to bring in jobs and growth in the UK. I also shared some of the schemes (including R&D tax relief and patent box) that the UK government has introduced to incentivise innovation and research activity. When I mentioned some of UK IPO’s outreach activities like the IP Masterclass and IP Healthcheck, the audience showed immense interest in learning more about these, so much so that they expressed the need for India to take such measures in order to raise IP awareness and requested ASSOCHAM to make a note of them.
Observations of the speakers will be compiled in the form of a report which will be presented to the Indian government.