Workshops for start-ups and MSMEs on Public Procurement and Patent filing

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Workshops for start-ups and MSMEs on Public Procurement and Patent filing

Garima Prakash

@GarimaP

March 29, 2024

Public Policy

On March 13, 2024, nasscom policy and startup team organised a two-part interactive workshop for start-ups and Micro, Medium and Small Enterprises (MSMEs). We witnessed participation from over 20 tech start-ups and MSMEs from diverse verticals including clean-tech, edtech, e-logistics, drones etc. We provide below a summary and key takeaway from both the workshops.

Part I: Procurement: Understanding the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) Portal, Key Features, Processes

Speakers:

AV Muralidharan, Addl. Director General & Chief Product Category Office (GeM)
Vinit Bansal, Director, Services (GeM)
Anurag Awasthi, Chief Manager, Social Inclusion and Inclusive Seller Impact (GeM)

This session focussed on familiarising the participants with the GeM portal, particularly, registering an entity as a seller, categorising and listing of products and services, searching for available bids, browsing through the procurement history of procuring entities, rating entities based on adherence to payment schedule, grievance redressal etc. We also discussed features relevant for start-ups and MSMEs, such as:

Lending: Start-ups and MSMEs can use the GeM Sahay lending platform to avail collateral-free working capital loans to fulfil the orders they receive on the GeM portal, for up to 80% of the purchase order value.
Start-up Runway Programme: This programme facilitates onboarding of DPIIT-registered start-ups onto the GeM portal under various sub-sectors. Other features include preventing unauthorised sellers from using the brand name/identity of existing start-ups, exemption from prior turnover and experience requirements, assistance in listing innovative products and services offered by start-ups, etc.
Integration with Udyam Portal: MSMEs registered with the Ministry of MSME’s Udyam portal, can benefit from an automatic registration to the GeM portal, thus eliminating the duplication of steps for registering on both portals separately.

Participants benefitted from the following insights during the Q&A session:

GeM is increasingly becoming a significant avenue for market access for start-ups and MSMEs. For Financial Year 23-24, the cumulative order value on GeM for start-ups and MSMEs was recorded over INR 22, 990 cr and INR 377 cr, respectively.
Start-ups/MSMEs can register as a seller for both products and services. In case the offering is a mix of products and services, the dominant/primary nature of the offering would be considered.
For start-ups looking to list innovative goods/services not classifiable under existing categories, new categories can be created upon request.
Buyers and sellers can use the incident management system to flag pre-order and/or post-order issues. The GeM Admin takes necessary actions, for example, validating the transaction as per the bid specifications, notifying the competent authority in buyer’s organisation for resolution etc.
GeM encourages timely payments by procuring entities. For example, by sending regular payment reminders, classifying buyers as red, orange, and green based on the number of payments pending beyond the due date etc.

Part II: Patents for Start-ups and MSMEs: Filing Process, Common Challenges, and Commercialisation

Speaker: Kirti Balasubramanian, Partner (TMT), Trilegal

This session familiarised participants with different types of IP protections, process for filing patents, essential elements of patentability, characteristics of a good quality patent that can withstand the pressure of opposition, and best practices for start-ups to secure a patent for their invention.

The session also covered a discussion on the need for creating an IP-protection strategy for start-ups and MSMEs, specifically the benefits in terms of:

Identifying the different types of IP protection that are relevant for the company.
Deciding the approach for commercialising the invention.
Identifying the strategic value of obtaining patent protection or other forms of IP protection such as trade secret or design protection.

Start-ups and MSMEs benefitted from the following insights during the Q&A session:

Filing a patent: Applying for and maintaining a patent right comes with considerations such as, nature and quality of the invention, existing patents in the domain, budget for enforcing patent rights through litigation etc.
Documenting invention process: The research and experiments conducted while inventing must be documented properly, to better evaluate the patentability of the invention at a later stage.
Utilising Government support: The Scheme for Facilitating IP Protection (SIPP) administered by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) provides for pro-bono advisory on IPR, reduced fees for patent filing, expediated examination timelines, etc.
Leveraging tools for prior-art search: Free online tools are available to conduct ‘prior-art’ search and decide the novelty of an invention or if something similar already exists in the public domain. This will ultimately decide the patentability of their invention.

Minimising the scope of prior art: If the invention is in the experimentation stage, start-ups can file a provisional patent application. This is beneficial for reducing the extent of prior-art search that needs to be performed. In such cases, the start-up would have to file a complete patent application within 12 months.

Remedies for infringement: Once a patent has been granted, the patentee is entitled to retrospectively claim damages against any infringements that occurred during the pendency of such application.

We continue to engage with start-ups and MSME for policy-discussions. For any queries on the above, reach out to garima@nasscom.in or t-dhananjay@nasscom.in .

Startups procurement IPR patents GEM

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Garima Prakash

Manager, Public Policy and Government Affairs

Reach out to me for all things policy about e-commerce, international trade, export controls, start-ups and fintech