IIT-Madras granted record number of patents in 2023, doubles previous year's tally

New Delhi: The number of patents granted to the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras doubled in 2023 from the previous year, reaching a record high of 300, officials said on Wednesday.

In addition, the number of international patents filed, including those granted under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), also recorded a significant increase, rising to 105 during 2023 from 58 in 2022, they said.

Additionally, 226 patents have already been filed during the current fiscal (as of December), including 163 Indian patents and 63 international patent applications (including PCT).

Since the inception of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Madras, a total of about 2,550 intellectual property (IP), including patent, applications have been filed, both in India (1,800) and abroad (750) so far, of which about 1,100 are registered IPs or granted patents (about 900 Indian and 200 international).

"It is a matter of pride for IIT-Madras that it had started filing patent applications as early as January 1975 (granted in May 1977). The total number of IP applications filed crossed 1,000 in 2016, 2,000 in 2022 and 2,500 in 2023. As we march towards our 100th year of Independence, for Bharat to become a superpower it is very important to protect our ideas," said IIT-Madras Director V Kamakoti.

He explained that researchers at IIT-Madras are proactively generating IP in domains such as wireless networks, advanced materials, robotics, additive manufacturing technology, engine advancements, assistive devices, advanced sensor applications, clean energy, aerospace applications, polymer material and thin films, catalysts, and biomedical applications, among many other emerging technologies.

The Office of Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research (ICSR) at IIT-Madras coordinates the different aspects related to IP and technology transfer. The centre collaborates with faculty, researchers and students and also has a dedicated legal cell.

"The institute has made it easy for inventors to access existing patent information through an online AI-based patent search tools. This facility has helped the inventors not only to quickly evaluate the invention by themselves but also to improve their ideas and claims. The emphasis is also equally on the quality of the work being translated as IP. This is only possible because of the collaborative effort of our inventors and the IP team," said IIT-Madras Dean Manu Santhanam.

There are three aspects of IP enabling at IIT-Madras -- clarifying, simplifying and demystifying IP filling; providing support for quick filing and follow-up without the faculty losing time or worrying about procedures; and facilitating technology transfer and monetisation of IP.

IIT-Madras Professor T Pradeep, a Padma Shri awardee, said, "When my first patent was filed about 20 years ago, there was no efficient mechanism to do it. I did almost everything, including patent drafting filing, responding to examination reports, commercialisation, etc." "Over the years, we have built a robust system for filing and commercialisation. I have filed patents even within three days using this system and reached out to potential partners for commercialisation. About 25 of my IPs have been commercialised in one way or the other," he added.