Surge in improper IPR Applications, 'NASSCOM 10,000 Startups' & DIPP get into the act

There is lot of 'buzz' these days at the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) offices

(to be precise, Cell for Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Promotion and Management) across India. 

Ever since the Prime minister of India announced that the Government intended to launch an initiative titled “Startup India, Stand up India” to encourage entrepreneurship among the youth on India’s Independence Day last year, as of June 24, close to 571 budding entrepreneurs have filed applications with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) for recognition as innovative start-ups to avail tax breaks and other benefits.

Out of these, only 12 are eligible for consideration by the inter-ministerial board for tax benefits, Startup India tweeted. Startup India is an initiative of the DIPP.

Seven have submitted all documents and are eligible for Startup India benefits and tax exemption and 106 have submitted all documents but are not eligible for tax exemptions, it said.

One of the main reasons for the Start-Ups not being able to cross the line to avail tax sops is the lack of knowledge with respect to attaching the relevant documents. The Start-Ups are also facing issues in getting a certificate from VCs and incubators on the innovativeness of their proposal, which is a crucial document to avail tax sops, provided in the startup action plan.

In a recent interactive program organized by "NASSCOM 10,000 Start-Ups" along with the DIPP at T-Hub, Hyderabad, experts from DIPP and other private agencies talked at length along with presentations explaining the budding entrepreneurs the nuances of basics of IPR, patents and copyrights, details of which can be accessed by clicking the link below.

It is noteworthy to see that the 'Patent Filings' for the year 2015-2016 have increased by 10% to 46,916 as against 42,774 filed during 2014-15. Whereas, 'Trade Mark Filings' have increased by 35% to 2,83,060 as against 2,10,501 filed during 2014-2015.

Please do share the above presentations by the DIPP with budding entrepreneurs and help them protect their inventions and foster technological improvements in India.

Cyber Crime free Mobile Solutions for Banking & Financial Inclusion with no access to Internet

Is this possible?

While the debate on Cyber Security arising out of Internet connected world can go on, solutions that allow access to Internet only through out-of-band authentication over phone call ensure that the hackers and cyber crime are kept at bay while delivering e-governance.

Voice Bio-metric appears to be an attractive option as Voice Network has a higher degree of

penetration vis-à-vis Internet which is needed for finger-print and IRIS-based authentication and necessitates transmission of images to a Central Server. Further, voice being primary function of mobile SIM, Jan Dhan + Voice Biometric + Mobile is actual JAM in works technically.

The proposed solution with or without voice-biometrics can be part of “e-Pramaan” (see Annexure - 1) depository for nation-wide authentication parallely with Aadhaar.

Is it possible to devise a system that involves a MobileApp based MicroATM solution that can work with or without ATM Card and with or without access to Internet while ensuring cyber security.

Such a solution / service, can be a cost and time effective door step solution through which one can demonstrate how “e-Pramaan” can be used to quickly roll-out various e-governance initiatives including Jan Dhan in the absence of Pan India Internet cover along with hacker free security for MobileApp, Web, ATM & Desktop.

Please share your thoughts to help "Digital India" to go forward in the right "Disha" (meaning Direction).

Annexure - 1.

e-Pramaan is an initiative by the Government of India to standardize and ensure trusted, convenient and reliable online authentication identity management system. It provides a standard based strong authentication to the integrated services. e-Pramaan supports single as well as multi-factor authentication which can be customized as per the e-Gov service's requisites. In addition to authentication, e-Pramaan also provides features such as Single Sign On (SSO), two way authentication etc .

Waste Management Start-Ups To 'Fuel' The Next Growth Wave

With 60 per cent India's population living without improved sanitation, pursuing "Green" has become

the new driver for companies on the quest towards growth, competitiveness and global excellence.

The call for 'Responsible Growth' encompassing social benefits, economic benefits and environmental concerns has one more additional dimension attached to it - Enhancing Livelihoods.

Against this background, experts at an event organised by the CII -Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre in Hyderabad called for 'innovation' to convert 'waste' into 'fuel,' and opined that Start-Ups who are into developing 'zero-waste' solutions must be encouraged by private investors and the Government.

Depending on the kind of waste produced — wet or dry — different kinds of resources are produced once the waste is processed and turned into organic compost, biogas and alternate cheap fuel sources such as oil from plastic.

With the domestic Waste Management Industry expected to grow to over $1 bn by 2020, the time is ripe to create an enduring society where businesses and the Government can devise systems where each and every act is inherently sustainable and restorative.

Share your views as to how you or your company is defining the path forward to ecologically sustainable business growth.