Steps for facilitation of filing of Intellectual Property by Start-ups were initiated by The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). The department has empanelled facilitators whose fees are borne by the government. Further, the department provides 80 per cent rebate in patent filing and 50 per cent for trademarks. The facility for expeditious examination of patent applications by startups has also been created.

It is a well-known fact that it takes about 4-7 years for the grant of patents though steps have been initiated to expedite the process. These steps have encouraged Start-ups to file intellectual property as evidenced by the fact that as on March 31, 2019, 450 applications were filed since 2016 under the fast examination facility and 120 patents were granted till March 2019 and 42 were refused for certain reasons. MicroGO LLP received patent in 101 days. This was for water purification technology. Another startup from Jammu and Kashmir, SID07 Designs, received a patent for its product - single-step automobile wheel-nut assembly machine and method - in six months only.

Another giant step was taken by Indian Start-ups when during the period 2015-2018, they filed more than 200 patents the USA. It is learnt that the vast majority of them are in emerging technologies, software, hardware, cleantech, healthcare, agri-tech and processes, among others and are not “mere copycats” of successful Western ventures. Number of applications were more for Artificial Intelligence, Image processing, Cyber security, vehicle technology and Internet of Things (IoT). Other areas include digital payments, e-commerce and navigation.

International partnerships have been taking shape under the startup India program to help connect Indian start up ecosystem through various engagement models. Key international partnerships have been executed by start up India initiative viz. Indo-Israel innovation bridge, India Singapore entrepreneurship bridge, India Portugal start up hub, India Sweden Startup sambandh, Indo-Dutch#StartupLink.

In order to increase visibility, start-ups need to differentiate themselves and one of the most effective ways is to increase intellectual property in their kitty. Combination of creation of intellectual property and launching a successful product would be the ultimate goal of any successful player.

Some of the emerging technology companies who have recently filed intellectual property are as under:

• Indiavidual Learning Pvt Ltd (Adaptive learning machine for score improvement and parts thereof)

• Silveredge Technologies Pvt Ltd (Method and system for progressive penalty and reward based ad scoring for detection of ads)

• MuSigma Business Solutions Pvt Ltd (Guided analytics system and method)

• Streamingo Solutions Private Ltd (Methods and systems for identifying, incorporating, streamlining viewer intent when consuming media)

• Smartalyse Technologies (System and method for configuring IoT devices),

• Idaax Technologies Private Ltd –(Internet of things locker )

• Magnasoft Consulting India Private Ltd (Wearable device for a child to communicate with parents and friends)

• Formcept Technologies and Solutions Private Ltd (Method to provide inferred intentional data analysis to user(s), using IoT devices)

• Ideaforge Technology Pvt Ltd (Multi-rotor aerial vehicle with single arm failure redundancy)

• Monk Akarshala (Microlearning marketplace in a modular learning system)

• Mintoak Innovations Pvt Ltd (Method and system for securely communicating transaction information using one or combination of multiple channels)

• Accord Software & Systems Pvt (Navigation Data Configuration For Optimal Time To First Fix)

• Mahindra Susten Pvt. Ltd (formerly known as Mahindra Epc Services Pvt Ltd.) (System which intelligently and optimally controls power utilization from hybrid energy sources)

• MphasiS Ltd (System and method for optimizing aggregation and analysis of data across multiple data sources)