Advantage Compendium

22nd Kerala Science Congress held at Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI), Peech, Thrissur. The organizers have chosen "Intellectual Property Rights and Development - A national perspective" as a central theme of this year's Science Congress. It was actually a courageous decision that the organizers of a scientific congress opted intellectual property rights as their main theme. The organizers have also published a collection of invited papers on IPR. The book includes a discussion paper Kerala Chief Minister of Kerala, Shri. VS Achuthanandan. Let me post below the message of Kerala Chief Minister.

I am extremely pleased that the Kerala Council for Science, Technology and Environment has chosen rightly, intellectual property rights and development as a central theme for the 22nd Kerala Science Congress. It is high time that the Kerala scientific community debated the advantages and disadvantages of establishing a strong intellectual property regime that was imposed by the powerful lobby globalization. Although intellectual property rights serve as a catalyst for development and recognizes and appreciates the creativity and innovation in recent years have witnessed the gross misuse of IPR laws by greedy multinationals .

Future of India is very dependent on its human resources and their potential for innovation in science and technology. However, a larger cross section of our students, teachers and researchers are not yet fully aware of the need to exploit the system of intellectual property rights to their advantage. It is within this context that the Government considers the inclusion intellectual property rights as a compulsory subject in the curriculum of higher education .

The government intends to Kerala "IP savvy" by giving adequate awareness of IPR for different layers of society. We are totally opposed to the monopoly of knowledge. Therefore, the IP policy of Kerala in 2008 reaffirmed the commitment of government to prevent private appropriation of traditional knowledge .

I congratulate the organizers and wish every success to the Kerala Science Congress 2010.

Shri. VS Achuthanandan