A study on intellectual property constraints faced by researchers

Abstract

Technological advancements in Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) play a crucial role in driving scientific growth. While India's 40th rank in the Global Innovation Index 2023 is promising, it prompts a closer look at the challenges and constraints researchers face in safeguarding innovations through various forms of IPRs. This serves as a significant area of research interest. To delve into this matter, discussions were held with experts to identify and categorize 50 constraints encountered by researchers. These constraints were organized under seven categories: administrative, financial, technical, knowledge, attitude, skills, and aspirations (the KASA framework). Information was collected from 206 researchers to study the severity of these constraints, utilizing a five-point scale. Subsequently, the scores were normalized and subjected to statistical analysis employing the weighted average technique. The scoring range for each constraint spanned from 0 to 82.4. Constraints were classified based on severity: those scoring between 0 to 27 were deemed less severe, those between 27.1 to 54 were categorized as medium severe, and any score exceeding 54 was considered highly severe. The findings revealed that a majority of constraints fell into the medium severity category. Among these, skill-related constraints obtained the highest scores, closely followed by knowledge and financial constraints. In many organisations efforts are underway to address these challenges, with training programmes being organized for researchers. It is anticipated that over time, these initiatives will contribute to the alleviation of constraints.