Only 50% organisations have inventor remuneration policies: Report
Most of the surveyed companies don’t encompass lifecycle of the invention, thereby lowering innovation ecosystem within the organisation
image for illustrative purpose
New Delhi: According to a recent report published by KPMG, only 50 percent of the organisations across various sectors have inventor remuneration policies. In the report namely,'Need for Inventor Remuneration Law in India', it was observed that most of the surveyed companydoes not encompass lifecycle of the invention, thereby lowering innovation ecosystem within the organisation.
The KPMG in partnership with National Intellectual Property Organization (NIPO), conductedsurvey with 150 participants from 30 different organisations. While 33 percent respondents of thesurvey were from IP and Research and Development background, followed by 28 per cent of themworking in the IP sector exclusively and 15 percent of respondents were from the managementsector.
While several companies are focusing on the need to have a motivated workforce for sustainablegrowth of an organisation, 64 per cent of the organisations have been offering the reward policy forover 5 years. According to KPMG, the objective of the report is to nudge the society to build aframework that will recognise and incentivise the efforts of researchers and inventors resulting in aknowledge and innovation-driven economy.
Ritesh Tiwari, Partner, Advisory, KPMG India, said: "Over the years, employee remuneration planshave acted as a stimulus to enhance employee motivation, morale and retention and have been acatalyst in employee performance. This report aims as guiding corporates and start-ups looking atestablishing leading compensation practices, by providing them with a preview to current globaltrends and at the same time shining light on jurisdictions offering incentives to their inventors."
While 60 per cent of the respondent organisations are headquartered in nations like the US, Finland,Switzerland, Netherlands, Denmark, etc., 40 percent of the surveyed companies are headquarteredin India.
The report states that limited organisations in India and multinationals provide remuneration toinventor's post patent monetisation, excluding them of their share from proceeding gains. Prof TCJames, President, NIPOA, in the report had stated that a conscious and consistent effort is requiredto achieve the objective of improved patenting.
The report mentions: "Around 95 percent of the respondents lacking inventor incentives in theirorganisation feel that an inventor reward strategy would help in inspiring the innovators in anorganisation. 78 percent of the entire respondents feel a law ought to be passed in India to create anequitable compensation strategy by all organisations."
According to the latest IP India annual report 2019, the number of non-resident patent applicationsfiled in 2018-19 was 50,659, whereas the number of resident patent applications filed stood at mere17,005 during the same year.
The report also states that if an incentive mechanism for inventors is introduced, then it maysurge the amount and quality of patents generated in India. In the past 10 years, KPMG states that over14 European nations and six Asian nations including Japan, China, Russia, Republic of Korea, and soon, have introduced inventor remuneration laws or have made amendments to their existingremuneration laws. At present, the Indian patent system provides an incentive for IntellectualProperty owners and applicants to disclose their inventions in return for exclusivity right for 20years.
