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Microsoft India leads CSIR in innovation
By siliconindia
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Thursday, 20 December 2007, 02:17 IST
New Delhi: The monopoly of government-controlled Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) in innovation and research seems to be under threat. Rising R&D activities in the private sector are leading to an unprecedented reversal of trend, with Microsoft India toppling CSIR from the top slot in receiving patents for research done in India during 2006, reports The Economic Times.
Microsoft has bagged 584 patents in India during the last year against CSIR's 476, according to a report 'Innovation in India: White Paper Infovision 2007' by the U.S. headquartered Thomson Scientific. CSIR was the second highest patent getter in 2006.
"A few years back, investment in research and innovation in India by the private sector was close to zilch, but this has increased considerably in the recent years," says P Anandan, MD, Microsoft Research, India. "It will continue to grow at a much faster pace with companies focusing more on high-tech research," he added.
A ranking of the top 10 patent assignees for all Indian inventions from 1968 to 2004 shows the CSIR dominating the research activities followed by FMCG major Hindustan Lever (now renamed as HUL) and Hoechst (now absorbed into Sanofi-Aventis) through its Indian subsidiary Hoechst India. So, it could be a change of chapter for the government's research giant.
However, in absolute sense, the cumulative share of CSIR's total patents in India still stands at 22.12 percent while Microsoft has just managed to corner 3.84 percent share of total patents in India till date. In other words, even though ranked second, CSIR still features as a major innovator in India.
With India being the only country for Microsoft outside of the U.S. where the software giant has presence in all the business segment, has also given a fillip to its R&D activities, says an industry expert. In the past, India only permitted patents for processes and not products. With new amendments to the Patent Act, it is now possible to obtain product patents in pharmaceuticals and agrochemical, telecom, and software industries, the study notes.