Joining Forces with India to Enable Students and Youth Innovators
July 25, 2024
The WIPO Academy and the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), an initiative of the Government of India to establish innovation labs and incubators, under the aegis of the Niti Aayog, have agreed to cooperate in the area of intellectual property (IP) education and skills-building for youth.
Mr. Sherif Saadallah, Executive Director of the WIPO Academy and Dr. Chintan Vaishnav, Mission Director of AIM, signed an agreement on July 22, 2024 in New Delhi, in the presence of Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan, India’s Minister of Education, Mr. Suman Bery, Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog, and Dr. V.K. Saraswat, Member of NITI Aayog, committing to enable youth innovation and entrepreneurship through IP in India.
The agreement outlines the sharing of India’s expertise on training and developing entrepreneurship in youth in collaboration with the WIPO Academy for the benefit of other developing countries with a similar path to economic development.
Intellectual property (IP) is a powerful catalyst for innovation and creativity, essential for addressing youth development and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Our focus on youth and teacher education is an integral part of our work to build a more inclusive global IP ecosystem and our partnership with Atal Innovation Mission will work towards strengthening the model covering Tinkering Labs and Incubators, which could then be shared with other developing countries. Further, WIPO will also support the efforts of the Niti Aayog in setting up a global institution on innovation, IP and entrepreneurship, with the objective of synergizing and complementing the respective expertise of both the organizations in assisting training in developing countries. This further demonstrates WIPO’s commitment to ensure youth participation in innovation and creativity, so that IP ecosystems are utilized by a wider demographic, fostering a more innovative and creative global economy.
Mr. Sherif Saadallah, Executive Director of the WIPO Academy
A three-step plan
The cooperation envisioned in the agreement includes:
- the translation and customization of several WIPO Academy eLearning courses on IP and innovation to the Indian context,
- delivering teacher trainings at AIM labs and incubators,
- and introducing AIM’s expertise on Tinkering Labs and Incubation Centers through design thinking, entrepreneurship, and innovation using IP in schools.
The joint efforts, which will reach 11 million students across India through AIM labs, will be delivered under WIPO Academy’s IP4Youth&Teachers Program. IP4Youth&Teachers was designed and launched by the WIPO Academy in 2018. Its primary purpose is to engage young people involved in the creative process to leverage IP for the benefit of their communities and jointly, with national authorities, promote the use of IP among young people.
AIM presented India’s experience with Tinkering Labs and incubators among other self-sustaining models at WIPO’s 32nd Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP). During the CDIP, several WIPO member states expressed interest in the Atal experience and asked to pilot it starting 2024, therefore the model of support implemented by WIPO, AIM and NITI Aayog will also be exported to other countries interested in upskilling their youth in the areas of IP, innovation and entrepreneurship.
The joint activities kicked-off with a workshop on IP and Innovation that was held at the Atal Incubation Center on July 23, 2024 for 150 CEOs and incubation managers, teachers and trainers of Atal Tinkering Labs, startup entrepreneurs, and PhD students studying entrepreneurship.
Mr. Sherif Saadallah and the WIPO Academy delegation also visited an Atal Tinkering Lab at DAV Public School, Vasant Kunj, to learn about the real-life impact of AIM on the youth.