Research
The IP Facilitation Center also plans to build a program focused on research, scholarship, advocacy and policy studies relating to the area of intellectual property and MSMEs.
MSMEs are a very important segment of Indian economy. As per statistics on the MoMSME website, the MSME sector in India employs an estimated 59.7 million persons spread over 26.1 million enterprises. It is estimated that in terms of value, MSME sector accounts for about 45% of the manufacturing output and around 40% of the total export of the country.
MSMEs are also a crucial part of the economy of the Pune region. According to statistics compiled by the MCCIA, as of 30 November 2009, the number of MSMEs in Pune was 56,663 (37.4% of MSMEs in Maharashtra; corresponding number for Mumbai is 12,341) generating employment of 3,01,098 (corresponding number for Mumbai is 1,06,214). The number of cooperative industrial units in operation in Pune is 3000 (nearly 50% of that in Maharashtra state). The manufacturing sector in Pune is dominated by engineering and auto industry but also has enterprises in the food industry, wineries, floriculture etc. Pune is also a major hub for the IT industry with software exports totaling $5228 million in 2008-2009 (accounting for 60% of the $8786 million from Maharashtra).
Given the importance of MSMEs to the Indian economy and the relatively unique nature of the MSME sector in India (compared to other countries), we believe that it is important to have an in depth of understanding of how Indian MSMEs can leverage IPR and provide scholarly research on the subject. IPFACE wishes to provide thought leadership for policy initiatives in this domain.
Some key questions:
- Entrepreneurs and MSMEs in India and their perception of intellectual property
- Barriers to filing for, leveraging and accepting/ respecting IPR in India amongst small businesses
- Strategies for MSMEs for creating value from IP and optimizing costs vis-a-vis impact
- Required public policy initiatives relating to IPR in India
- Community/ shared rights and open source for MSME sectors in India