Kerala Startup Mission: Providing Patent Grants to Student and Startup Entrepreneurs

Young Entrepreneurs play a crucial role shaping the Economic growth of the country. To encourage, promote and support untapped creativity new IPR reimbursement schemes have been developed. This article explores the significance and benefits of providing in specific patent reimbursement to these promising innovators.

The Government of Kerala under the Kerala Start up mission has launched two schemes to provide financial support to Start ups and Entrepreneurs who are able to secure a patent. Both the Schemes, the Innovation grant scheme and patent Reimbursement scheme act as a channel to uplift the promising entrepreneurs engaged in developing new innovations.

INNOVATION GRANT SCHEME:

The Government of Kerala has introduced the new Innovation Grant scheme under the Kerala Startup Mission to provide financial assistance to startups and entrepreneurs to help them convert their innovative ideas into full-fledged ventures. The purpose of innovation grant is to help innovators and startups to develop the model or product into fully developed ventures.

Types of Grants

1.      Idea Grant-This type of grant provides financial support to startups who are in the designing stage or concept forming stage up to Rs 3 lakhs.

2.      Productization grant-Provides for a grant amount up to Rs 7 Lakhs for startups who are looking to convert minimum viable product into the final product with early revenue.

3.      Market Acceleration Grant: For startups who are looking for scaling up and maximizing revenue. The grant amount is up to 15 lakhs.

4.      Scale-up Grant: Provides for a grant amount of up to Rs 15 Lakhs for startups who are looking for scaling up and maximizing revenue.

5.      R&D Grant (Research and Development): Grant provided to highly promising deep tech startups with working product which needs to be developed into a final product through extensive R&D. This grant is limited to 30lakhs.

6.      Idea Grant (Student Innovator): Special grant provided to young students who are in the stage of concept designing to a minimum viable Prototype Development. The grant amount is up to 2 lakhs.

7.      Women/Transgender Productization Grant: For women/transgender owned startups who are looking to convert the minimum viable product into the final product. This grant will be an additional to the existing productization grant. The grant amount is up to 12 lakhs.

Eligibility criteria: For idea Grant, an innovator should be based in and out of Kerala. Whilst for all other grants, the startup should be a company incorporated under the Companies Act.

PATENT REIMBURSEMENT SCHEME

Patent support system intends to support startup entrepreneurs and student entrepreneurs by reimbursing the patent cost including consultation fee, subject to limit of Rs.2 lakh per Indian patent awarded. The activities covered under the scheme are: Provisional patent filings, patent search, Drafting, Filings, Claims preparations, Fast tracking fees, Claims prosecutions, Granting. In addition, for patent foreign patents on a single subject matter, up to RS.10 lakhs would be reimbursed. Until now, about 74 lakhs of reimbursement has been released through this scheme. The scheme covers all patent applications filed through registered patent attorneys after November 9, 2015.The reimbursement will do in 3 stages of patent during filing, prosecution and award.

The relevance of this scheme is that the scheme does not support trademarks, copyrights or any other intellectual properties other than patents.

Eligibility Criteria:

1.As mentioned earlier only applications which are filed after 09.11.2015 will be considered.

2.For students, they can apply directly through their IEDC’s and for startup, it should be a legal entity registered with RoC as Private Limited or LLP.

It has to be noted only entrepreneurs can apply under thus scheme whereas, innovators who aren’t registered as any legal entities are not applicable to to this scheme.

3.The startup must be registered in Kerala, within 10 years from the date of incorporation and must have DIPP (Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion) and Udyog Aadhar.

4.For students, the support will be given only for those who are pursuing academics.

It has to be pointe out here that, the scheme does not extend support to patent renewals and prosecutions against appellate authority who have already rejected one’s patent claims. 

Benefits of Scheme

As we have already discussed, the benefits of patent reimbursement scheme play a pivotal role in fostering innovation and entrepreneurship. Here are some key advantages of the patent reimbursement scheme:

1.Rs.2 Lakhs/Indian Patent

2.Rs.10 lakhs/International Patent.

Building Intellectual property portfolio: Patents recognize and reward inventors for their commercially-successful innovations. Hence, patent reimbursement encourages students and startups to build a robust intellectual property portfolio, which not only protect but also attract investors, potentially securing funding for further development and expansion.

By offering these schemes government helps the innovators to move forward by removing financial barriers, which will ultimately lead to contributing to technological as well as economic growth of state.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the concept of patent reimbursement holds immense potential to drive the aspirations of student and startup entrepreneurs. By alleviating financial burdens, encouraging brave deed, and fostering innovation, this can lead to more vigorous and effective innovation atmosphere. Since more startups have now focused on addressing global challenges such as climate change and healthcare, patent reimbursement can boost the development of sustainable solutions, contributing more to the sustainable development of nature. The integration of patent reimbursement into the academics can expose students into real-world challenges fostering the culture of entrepreneurship. This initiative not only rewards risk taking and entrepreneurship but also lays down foundation for a society where innovation is accessible to all, regardless of financial constraints.

To know more about Patent and Protecting Intellectual Properties reach us : ipr@legacypartners.in or  call +91 9562444403