Importance of IPR protection rights for MSMEs and startup in agri and food sector

Session on "IPR protection for agricultural and food products"
 
Date:13 June,2020
Time and duration: 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm – 2 hours
Program Theme: Importance of IPR protection rights for MSMEs and startup in agri and food sector
Objective :- The objective of the session was to make attendees aware of different intellectual property rights in the agricultural and food industry and how and why it is important for an organisation/individual to leverage them.
Resource Persons:
•Mr. V.K. Sharma, Director of MSME DI Jaipur
•Mr. Rajeev Mittal, president- Jila Udyog Sangh Dholpur
•Mr. Krishan Avtar Sharma, General Manager, Department of Industries, Government of Rajasthan, Dholpur
•Dr. Rohit Jain, Patent & Trademark Attorney, Trade Innovation Services, Jaipur
•Dr. Dasharath Prasad, Assistant Professor, Agriculture Research Station, Sriganganagar
•Dr. Ummed Singh, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur
•Mr. Dinesh Soni, Assistant Director, MSME-DI
Benefit in terms of learning/Skill/Knowledge obtained:  
The session was very informative as it informed about the several IPRs which are relevant to agricultural and food sector which can be very useful for food and agriculture related startups
Overall report of the activity: An online session was organised by MSME on 13 June,2020. The topic of the webinar was “Importance of IPR protection rights for agricultural and food sector" and various reknowned names form the same field hosted the session and shared  their insights with the participants. Mr. V.K. Sharma, Director of MSME DI Jaipur talked about various schemes and opportunities available for Start-ups. Mr. Rajeev Mittal, president- Jila Udyog Sangh Dholpur, shared the industrial overview of Dholpur.  Dr. Rohit Jain, Patent & Trademark Attorney, shared his valuable information on Intellectual Property Rights. Mr. Krishan Avtar Sharma, Dr. Dasharath Prasad, Dr. Ummed Singh, Mr. Dinesh Soni were the speakers of the session. Co-founders of the student startups namely NHX ,  Chocoholics and Garden Haat from IIS University participated in the session. The session was very useful for the  start-up “Garden Haat” which is about Hydroponic farming in Jaipur , Chocoholics which specializes in customized bakery items and NHX- Service Providers of home made food products, as it informed about various IPRs like patents, copyright, trademark,GI(Geographical Indication),design registration. The session helped in framing the required outlines for the startup and gave in-depth insight of the Agricultural industry. Also the speaker informed about the five stages of a startup-Ideation, Research, Prototyping, Patenting(relative IPR registration) and monetization.  Panel discussed how food and agricultural can leverage the current conditions by protecting its brand name and how it can be used to make local brand global. The session explained how a brand can use various rights it's designs ranging from logo, tagline to packaging and name.  
It mentioned which food products and crops should be grown and manufactured and India has to increase it's production capacity to become self dependent during this harsh condition of Covid-19. Also how startups can come forward to not only grow but also how can they contribute to take national economy forward. Various GIs like makes a marvel,bikaneri bhujia,Jaipur rajai and etc were told about. Many strategies were also discussed as in to cope with the repurcussions of lockdown and covid-19.The session was very well planned and covered all the key points related to Intellectual property rights and it's importance. After the speaker's note many participants asked questions and were satisfied with the answers