Maximum number of patents filled in Biotechnology, followed by in Engineering, Basic Sciences and Pharmaceuticals.

Solan: Shoolini University has filled 185 patents between April 2018 to March 2019. Solan based University has been ranked third highest in the country in filing patents by academic institutes and universities across India.

The Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs, Trade Marks and Geographical Indicators declared the rankings. As per an annual report recently released by the Office of Intellectual Rights, India, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are first in the list of patent filers.

As per the report, a total of 193 patents were filed from Himachal Pradesh in the period April 2018-March 2019, and Shoolini University alone has the record of filing 185 patents. Shoolini University has filed the maximum number of patents in Biotechnology, followed by those in Engineering, Basic Sciences and Pharmaceuticals.

There are a number of institutions, including centrally funded institutions in Himachal Pradesh, but almost all patents have been filed by the researchers at Shoolini University, taking the state to be among the top patent filing states of the country.

Since its inception, the Shoolini University has filed 425 patents.

Vice Chancellor Prof PK Khosla congratulated the faculty. He said the rankings reflected the emphasis laid on research in the university. Prof Khosla said

“it was in late 2014 that the university started focusing on research and only 33 patents were filed in the first year. However, the researchers soon picked up pace and the number of patents filed stand at 425 now. The next step after the formal filing of patents is the publication, and so far, 211 of these patents have been published.”

Prof Khosla said 30 of its design patents have been granted, along with a trademark. He also informed that six copyrights have been granted to the university.

Talking about the challenges posed by COVID-19, the Vice Chancellor said the pandemic had slowed down the research work, but everyone was making the best efforts in the present scenario to expedite pending projects.