IPR role in economic growth: need for budgetary support for R&D outfits stressed

Innovation is of key importance in spurring economic growth in a developing country like Pakistan. This was stated by K B Rind, Secretary, Ministry of Science & Technology (MoST), while addressing the 4th national seminar, held in Islamabad on February 25, on 'Intellectual property rights (IPR) and their role in economic growth: innovation, hi-tech, research, development and creativity'.
According to details available here on Tuesday, he stressed that the need of the hour was to establish national innovation centres in the country, and offered MoST's full support for such projects. "In today's world, R & D organisations and universities can play a crucial role in the development of national economy, especially invention and innovation. We have to focus on every field of science and technology to match the developed countries," he said.
Dr Tanzil Haider Usmani, Chairman of Pakistan Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (PCSIR), in his address of welcome informed the participants that PCSIR has established well equipped analytical centres in its laboratories in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar to serve local industries. These laboratories are also ISO-17025 accredited, he said.
He said that patent culture in PCSIR has been nurturing since 1953 and has more than 500 patents, and has published more than 7000 research papers in national and international journals. It has identified potential tangible and intangible assets that could be commercialised and produce commercially viable products. To encourage and facilitate such innovations, various funding schemes are required for necessary research and development by the government. He pleaded for the need to continue creation of new inventions which are essential for the development of nation.
For this purpose, a conducive environment, a secure mechanism and platform is required in R & D organisations that would create greater protection and exploitation of intellectual property to benefit both the fund provider and the recipient. He said that Patent Advisory Cell has filed 215 national patents, and 26 patents have already been commercialised. Seventeen patents have also been filed overseas.
Zuzzer Ali Shamsuddin, Director-General, PCSIR Laboratories Complex, Karachi, said that it is one of the multi-focal and multi-functional complex doing R & D, testing/analysis/calibration and consultation activities. Abdul Hameed Iqbal, Resource Person, said that establishing incentives for the development and expansion of business in high growth sectors such as IT, entertainment, medicine, plant genetics and biotechnology is needed in Pakistan.
Another Resource Person, Hamood-ur-Rab Jaffry, said that an increase of 40 percent in patent filing has been observed in developed countries because researchers and inventors realise the importance of economic impact of patenting on their inventions/innovations. Dr Shahnaz Parveen said that to be commercialised; an idea must be more than a concept. That is to say that growth of economy of country will be enhanced if the intellectual property products are developed by the industrial sector.
Afshan Zia in her presentation said: "We have to highlight new trends in the global IPR framework to reconcile with the changes, so that we adjust accordingly". In one of the lengthiest presentations, Engr M A Jabbar, a former vice-president of FPCCI and Chairman of WTO Committee of FPCCI, critically examined the available environment to promote innovations and commercialisation, thereof.
He said: "We do not see any budgetary subhead to speak of a reasonable amount allocated for R&D support to help the domestic innovations, while turning of an idea into a marketable product through registered patents by domestic human capital towards commercialisation needs to be covered for its risk profile by the public policy support and the funding".
He said that Human Resource (HR) capital of Pakistan is credible and holds all mind and knowledge to make imaginations based on the fundamentals of know-how and understanding to develop the home-grown ideas, patenting of which will provide the country not only domestic marketable merchandise, but could also cross border through licensing and cross licensing.
He said that commercialisation means an idea of new technology, product or process to undergo the processing technology for an eventual development of the product, for retailing. He said that presently, Pakistan is retailing IP of other countries to the tune of import value, which has registered volume of up to 40 billion US dollars a year.
Component part of the knowledge of the product goes into the pocket of patent holders or licensees in other countries from where Pakistan is importing for consumption. "If we examine the pattern of imports we will see that even we load the raw materials for consumption tax at the import stake," he said.
Engr Jabbar said that the converting imaginations into commercialisation to produce tangible assets out of intangible assets is more or less based on engineering of raw materials for commercialised manufacturing of finished products. Critically analysing the whole issue, he said that he does not feel any reservation in claiming that Pakistan does not have any conducive environment under which it could offer the reasons for developing patents for commercialisation.
He said that the domestic models in other countries have shown a linear correlation with the public funding spent for economic development. He said: "If we examine the budgetary supports for national institutes like PCSIR it would be necessary to mention that a marginalised amount after expenditure on upgrading of the infrastructure of PCSIR is left for a space to generate innovative environment, help the ideas to screen through the test of being advanced further without losing much part of the ideas."
He said that however there is always risk profiling while the commercialisation of the process of ideas and patents goes through the cycle of different engineering to compute a workable cost of the product for retailing, with future of licensing and further development.
He said: "We may have to accelerate in the advocacy for the GOP that an environment needs to be developed for innovation developments, so that the innovation cost which we are paying through imports could also be shared in future by HR capital of the country." He said: "This will also help us in cross licensing and selling the licences for those who have better technology than our innovations."
He said: "If we look at the models of other countries, the developments have strong linkages to the institutions, university, state enterprises and the special centres to help in selling the ideas for commercialisation including providing subsidy and the risk during the simulations of the models or putting them into real fundamentals of development".
He referred to many slides on power point to make his point, that in the given economy and its macroeconomic indications, "we need to support our HR capital and scientific base to enhance its capacity to generate the home-grown innovations for commercialisation". Jabbar said: "We must also think together as to what IP policies should be formulated from budgetary supports from next year, so that we could induce and conduct innovations in the risk avert profiling of this R&D business."
Elaborating the needs, he said that Pakistan has the ability to create, and absorb, new technology and implement such technology into economic production subject to the support policy ratification through public funding supports, through budgetary allocations.