Dilemma of intellectual property rights!

Where the science and technology has played a pivotal role in the progress of developed world, the intellectual property rights (IPRs) are equally important which not only guarantee a proper reward to the inventors but also promoting further innovations and researches. Based on strong academia-industry liaison, high education institutions and universities have successfully emerged as the breeding place for what the western world is now experiencing in shape of innovations and inventions in almost all sectors especially science and technology, industry, IT, defence equipments, etc. Undeniably, all this could be possible only through creating awareness among the main brains especially academia and students about the IPRs and their economic impact and financial benefits not only for the states but also the minds behind all these innovations. On the contrary, the IPRs situation in Pakistan is painfully not up to the mark. Lack of awareness, virtually non-existing implementation mechanism of relevant laws, weak will of political leadership, peoples declining purchasing power and rising smuggling trends can be considered as the bottlenecks in ensuring IPRs protection. The strong academia-industry interaction can not only discourage these negative trends but also help in stimulating the targeted researches. The industrial sector needs to brief the educational institutions about the nature and requirements of their fields. This approach would go a long way in developing an environment of innovations as well as training skills. But on the other side, the educational institutions need to win the confidence of the industrial sector. This is possible through improving their research facilities, enhancing funding for research projects as well as collaborating with the world renowned universities. Taking the lead in this regard, the Bahria University has established business incubation centers at its Karachi and Islamabad campuses to procreate space for young and prospective entrepreneurs with limitable business ideas and strong commercializeable aspect. This could be termed a good starter to promote innovations and protect patents, setting an example for other institutes to follow. At this stage, the main role must also come from the relevant authorities who need to take practical steps for creating an environment where educational institutions could move towards innovations and commercialization and impart research trainings to academia and students. Similarly, effective implementation of relevant laws also work like oxygen for the brains behind innovations and they do perform better.