In the present knowledge era, innovation and technology are the key drivers of economic growth. Government of India has declared 2011-2020, as the decade of Innovation. WIPO celebrates 26th April as, “The World IP Day”. The growing role of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) has been duly recognized under Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) by World Trade Organization (WTO). India a member of WTO has fully complied with TRIPS regulations and has amended all its IP laws related to Patent, Trademark, Copyright and Industrial Designs as per international standards. The other international organisation acting for harmonization and promotion of IPR is WIPO besides several International conventions.

Innovation and invention are the two different words with different connotation. Innovation is a broader term which implies development of a product which is useful for a consumer by commercializing the invention or the technology. Thus invention is limited to the world of science and technology whereas innovation takes place at the level of real business world. Innovation may also relate to other field of finance, marketing, branding or any other field of business. An innovator need not be a scientist as Steve Job who developed Apple phone was only an innovator.

In other words what is important is innovation but innovation cannot happen without invention and therefore there is a need to mitigate the gap between invention and innovation through proper interface between the academic institution and the industry. This can happen through collaborative research or sponsored research work. The industry can take use of the research infrastructure available at the research institutions. Today the commercialization of research work is very poor. The global average of commercialization is below 10 percentage. Therefore there is a need for a comprehensive IP ecosystem integrating all five activities narrated below. Sometimes lack of proper enforcement also demotivates the invention. There is proper need to create awareness at all levels including the custom and police authorities’ along with improving the Judicial system.

Innovation and Intellectual Property contribute substantially to the economic growth of a nation. In United States, IP intensive industries contribute almost 35% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) & almost 39% of GDP in European Union (EU). The average share of intangible assets in the global wealth is approximately 80%. The effective management of Intellectual Property for a country or for a company depends on development of an effective IP eco-system which has the following five components:-

• Creation of IP : Adequate Research & Development.
• Protection of IP: Creating proper legal framework
• Enforcement of IP: Developing effective judiciary and administrative setup.
• Commercialization of IP: Through effective technology transfer office.
• Effective awareness of IP: Through workshop, seminar, etc.

Therefore, there is a need for developing an affective IP eco-system in any organization, especially in order to face the global competition about their product and services. The organization must adopt proper IP Policy and follow required IP strategies through a dedicated team of experts either by in-house IP-Cell or by outsourcing the services of IP professionals. There is a need for identification of different IP assets in the organization and protection by registration rationally and globally. There is need for proper accounting of IP Assets in the form of Patents, Copyrights, Trademarks, Industrial

Designs, and Trade Information and so on. There is also the need for regular IP Auditing of all different IP Assets about their registration, timely renewal. IP Audit entails evaluating the licensing agreements and realization of royalty for the technology licensed to different entities. There is need for proper evaluation of the Research and Development taking place to ensure creation of IP as per the legal requirements of novelty, inventiveness and industrial application. The organisation should have a regular system of IP valuation and effective management of all IP Assets to ensure optimum value realization and monetization of all IP Assets. IP risk analysis is also an important area.

There is a need to recognise Intellectual Property assets management similar to, finance, production , human resource, inventory management and so on. The organization must develop proper IP Accounting system and IP Audit. There is also the need for IP due diligence whenever there is any technology transfer and payment of either technical fees or royalty. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India has issued AS-26 for compliance of intangible assets accounting. There is International Accounting Standards IAS 38 and now several stringent provisions under the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).There are many fiscal and tax incentives for expenditure on Research and Development. There is need for change in the mind set to consider Research as a profit centre instead of a cost centre.

In brief it may be said that the survival and growth of an organisation will depend upon the innovation and skill development as a continuous process in order to stay competitive. It is not the capital or the natural resource which matters but it is the human resource which determines the growth and the competitiveness of the organisation as the intellectual resource ultimately help to build a robust intellectual asset or the Intellectual Property Rights, which is the real yardstick for an innovative and dynamic organisation.