Defence Ministry signs MoU with IPFC and NRDC

The Defence Ministry on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Intellectual Property Facilitation Cell (IPFC), and National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) in connection to the Mission Raksha Gyan Shakti.

The partnership between IPFC and NRDC is expected to bridge the capacity shortfall and provide a major fillip to the ongoing efforts of the Defence Ministry towards promoting a culture of Innovation and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in the Defence industry.

It should be noted that Mission Raksha Gyan Shakti, conceptualised by Ajay Kumar, Secretary, Defence Production, was formally launched by former Defence Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, last November, with an aim to inculcate Intellectual Property culture in Indian defence manufacturing ecosystem.

Under this Mission, an Intellectual Property Facilitation Cell (IPFC) has been established under the aegis of Directorate General Quality Assurance (DGQA), which has achieved a challenging target of training more than 12,000 personnel on IPR and facilitating filing of more than 1000 new IPR applications within a short span of a year.

The action plan 2019-20 of Mission Raksha Gyan Shakti has also been approved by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, which includes training of additional 20,000 personnel from Public/Private Sector Industry and Armed Forces on relevance of Intellectual Property culture to Indian Defence manufacturing industry and to institute a framework which enables full utilisation of new ideas and innovation towards achieving self-reliance in defence sector.