India to Propose New Technology Transfer Legislation

Long before the founding of BayhDole25 in 2005, science and technology experts saw the need for India to adopt technology transfer legislation to advance commercialization of science. With little government support and no prospect of implementation, this remained the province of scientists and academics. Dr. R. A. Mashelkar has been an early and persistent advocate, calling India’s history with Bayh-Dole mechanisms “a series of missed busses.” I am a relative late-comer; in January, 2004, Dr. Chakrabarty urged me to focus on this at the Indian Science Congress in Chandigargh, http://www.expresspharmaonline.com/20040205/happenings05.shtml and then again at the June 2005 meeting of the U.S./India High Technology Coordination Group (HTDG), in Washington DC. At the HTCG, it was an exciting, dramatic moment when Dr. Bhan, the Director of India’s Department of Biotechnology, announced in response to my presentation that he had just that day received authorization from Kapil Sibal-sab, Minister for Science and Technology, to develop tech transfer legislation for adoption in India.

Now this looks to be coming to fruition with Minister Sibal’s recent announcement in Pune, India that his ministry has finalized tech transfer legislation, for introduction as a priority bill to the Indian Parliament. Key elements include sharing of royalties from commercialization between academic inventors and institutions, encouragement of academic bio-preneurs (which fueled the U.S. biotech revolution and led to creation of Amgen, Genetech et al), and key mechanisms to benchmark patentable research undertaken by Indian academic and research institutions with support of the Government of India.

I was privileged to be at Hi-Tech Pune: Where IT Meets BT. The Hi-Tech Pune Conference was a great opportunity to meet some of India’s true legends and leaders in IT and Biotech, jointly organized by the State of Maharashtra and the Indian Council on Science and Industrial Research (CSIR). For more information on the Hi-Tech Pune Conference (and to see my plenary presentation on how Pune’s high tech sector could best harness IP to promote innovation and growth, please see http://www.finstonconsulting.com/html/presentation.html

-Susan Finston, Chair BayhDole25.org