DEVELOPMENT,

RESEARCH, INVENTION,
INNOVATION,
TECHNOLOGY, PATENTS
N. S. Raghava
Department of Information Technology,
Delhi Technological University Bawana
Road, Delhi – 110042.
nsraghava@dce.edu
 Concepts
 Discovery is the initial observation of a
new object or a phenomenon. A new
increment to knowledge.
 Invention is a new device or process;
provides the first verification that a
real problem can be solved in a
particular way.
Fission was a discovery;
atom bomb an invention
 Contd…
 Innovation in technology is a process
through which an invention is first
reduced to practice in a culture. It
improves performance in goal directed
behaviour as measured by a criterion.
Spreadsheet software is an invention; a
new business application of spreadsheet
that increases profit will be an innovation
 Contd…
 Patent is a statutory right granted for a
limited period to an inventor in respect of
an invention in any field of technology,
which may be a product or a process, to
exclude any other person from
manufacturing, using or selling the patented
product or from using the patented process.
 Technology is a technique for performing a
particular activity. It is the development and
application of tools, machines, materials
and processes that help to solve man’s
problems.
 Contd…
 Development in the material sense is
the progress through application of
science and technology towards
agricultural self-sufficiency and the
stimulation of commercial and
industrial activity.
 Technology and Economic
Growth
 Joseph A Schumpeter (1911): Innovation and
entrepreneurship at the heart of economic development.
Invention by itself economically irrelevant unless some
entrepreneur, driven by profit motive, converts it into
innovation that yields economic benefit. Innovations
improve products and productivity and destroy earlier,
outdated technologies.
 Robert Solow (1950s): Recognized technological progress
as the key factor in economy besides labour and capital.
Only half the growth of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in
the US economy 1909 to 1949 could be accounted for by
labour and capital ; the other half (Solow’s residual) was
attributed to technological progress.
 Edward Denison: 40% increase in per capita income in
the USA from 1929 to 1957 resulted from advance in
knowledge.
 Contd…
 In the half century since the periods of studies of Solow
and Denison, the contribution of knowledge / technology
to economic growth has to be much larger as the
present day developed economies, depending heavily
on advances in S&T, have come to be known as
knowledge economy (KE).

 Paul M Romer : Post 1980, increasing focus on the role

of the regulatory environment in influencing technology
progress. Romer recognized (a) accumulation of
knowledge as the driving force behind economic growth,
and (b) the role of enhanced human capital (improved
education and training)in the increase in per capita
income. Profit motive led to newer, technically superior
products that could be patented and served public good.
Thus, profit motive was driving technological progress.
Romer’s prescription for economic growth: invest in
research and human resources.
 Contd…
 Grossman and Helpman confirmed
that profit drove technology and gave
a bigger insight: the regulatory
environment of a country (institutions,
laws, economic policies) determine the
profitability of investment in
technology and thus influence the
direction and pace of technological
change.
 IP in Knowledge Economy
(KE)
 Knowledge revolution of the last three
decades across the board in S&T:
Information and Communication, AI, Digital
Technology, e-commerce, BioTech, Medicine,
advanced materials, Space Engineering etc.
Technology thoroughly intertwined with
economy and commerce. Developing
countries needed both FDI (Foreign Direct
Investment) and Technology. Both were
inextricably linked.

 Low IP protection discouraged flow of

technology and skilled manpower into the
developing world. No more possible to keep
IP separate from economy. TRIPS of WTO had
to come.
 Contd…
 In KE there is a shift in perception about
patents. They are no mere instruments to
protect the interest of inventors and
encourage creative activity in society but they
have become instrument of economic policy.
 Patents play a 4-fold role in KE
 Stimulate R&D;
 Serve as catalyst for new technologies and new

businesses;
 Empower businesses, particularly SMEs (Society

for Manufacturing Engineers);

 Facilitate technology transfer and FDI (foreign

direct investment)
Patents and Technology Development
(TD)
 Patents help TD in two ways: (a) by
stimulating R&D, and (b) by facilitating
inflow of technology and skills.
 Stimulating R&D means unleashing
creativity and inventiveness and
harnessing it for generating wealth and
public good. Does it in two ways: (a)
Patent as an instrument of rights and
privileges; (b) Patent as a mine of
technological information.
 Patent as an instrument of rights and
privileges
 Patentee shielded from competition. Gets time and
opportunity to recover his costs and earn profit by
himself using the invention for production and selling
them and/or through licensing and royalties.
 Profits - R&D investment – increased invention
(patenting) – increased innovation - commercial
exploitation (business expansion) – increasing profits.
A virtuous cycle.
 Note that a patent keeps the competition at bay for a
limited period; it does not guarantee market
acceptance. The emphasis on R&D enhances quality of
human resources through education and training
which leads to higher levels of inventions. The success
of one inventor/entrepreneur encourages others. At
the core of this cycle is profit motive. It is presumed
that creative/inventive activity will stop if this motive
is not there.
 Contd…
 Consider how the changing nature of R&D is
impacting the role of patent as incentive to
R&D. Research now is highly systemized and
organized, is more of a group effort than an
individual’s work and is often a very costly
endeavour. Most of it is conducted by
corporates which increasingly want to keep
it close to their chest and seek no patents
for the inventions for fear of public
disclosure required for a patent. Here
patenting becomes irrelevant to R&D.
However SMEs and individual inventors have
a very large share of inventions to their
credit and there patenting continues to exert
a very favourable influence on research.
 Patent applications as gold mine of
information
Patent applications can greatly help in planning for
research and business.
 They reveal what areas of research are being pursued by

which groups and the frontier of research in a particular

area.
 They tell of technological activities not only within

specific companies but also within industry sectors and

within countries;
 One can monitor changes and shift of emphasis in

research areas which can help in forecasting

technological developments and industry cycles;
 One can identify technology available for licensing and

technologies which are in the public domain either

because their licenses have expired or because they
were never patented in the country;
 Contd…
 One can identify a business partner or an
institution which could be a potential client
or collaborator;
 Patent search helps not only in determining
novelty of one’s own invention but in
making and drafting claims for it so that the
claims are not challenged;
 The study of patent applications helps in
avoiding infringement of other’s rights and
in planning one’s own research so as to
avoid work which has already been done
and thus waste no time in reinventing the
wheel.
 Invention to Innovation
 It is a critical step. Much larger funds needed for
this transition than for lab scale research that leads
to invention. In developing countries most R&D
funds come from Govt. Research in Govt. labs
yields bench scale inventions. To upgrade them to
commercial scale, labs need a private partner who
must share the risk inherent in a new, unproven
technology. That is not so easily forthcoming. It
requires a lot of motivation in labs and researchers
to convince private parties that the lab scale
technology has a reasonable chance to succeed.
Additionally, a really promising technology from a
Govt. lab may be up against powerful competition
to sabotage it. The difficulty is much less if the
invention is patented.