Sabour: Bihar Agricultural University (BAU), Sabour, launched a two-day seminar on Saturday to mark Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Day, bringing together a large gathering of agristartups, farmers, students and experts to discuss innovation and the importance of protecting intellectual property.
A total of 302 participants registered for the event, which opened with an inaugural session where guests were welcomed with products crafted by the university’s startups. The chief guest was Padma Shri awardee Dr R. C. Chaudhary, joined by K. V. Iyer, director of ABIS at IIT Kharagpur, Dr Aditya Kumar Sinha, director of C-DAC Patna, Dr Ravi Goyal, director of NIAM Jaipur, Dr Shivdutt Sharma, principal scientist at ICAR, New Delhi, and President Award-winning farmer Arjun Mandal.
Director of Research at BAU, Dr A. K. Singh, in his welcome address, underscored the growing importance of intellectual property in agriculture and related fields. Dr Chaudhary shared his experience of the commercial success of Kala Namak rice after securing a GI (Geographical Indication) tag, encouraging startups to pursue innovation with renewed energy.
Dr Iyer highlighted the challenges facing agri-startups but pointed to a growing landscape of opportunities, while praising BAU’s focus on emerging sectors such as makhana. Dr Sinha stressed the importance of securing intellectual property collectively and revealed ongoing collaborations between BAU and C-DAC to foster agri-tech innovations.
Other speakers, including Dr Goyal and Dr Sharma, emphasised the economic power of patents and the importance of commercialising intellectual property swiftly, noting India’s accelerated pace in patent filings.
In his presidential address, BAU Vice-Chancellor Dr D. R. Singh called the seminar an invaluable opportunity for collaboration among experts, farmers and students. He announced the university’s new “One Scientist, One IPR” initiative and highlighted BAU’s impressive record of filing 80 GI and patent applications. Dr Singh urged startups to diversify products and focus on district-level innovations, stressing the potential of the Indo-Gangetic Plain as one of the world’s most diverse agricultural regions.
On the occasion, books and newspapers centred on startup activities were also released.
The seminar’s technical session featured presentations from university professors and startups, with experts offering advice on maximising the commercial potential of innovations. A significant highlight of the day was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between BAU’s SabAgris and the National Institute of Agricultural Marketing (NIAM), Jaipur, aimed at strengthening marketing skills for the university’s startups.
