Students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison proposed in 2020 that March be observed as the International Month of Ideas. Visit
The first celebration was in 2021, but in 2022 Covid-19 caused havoc. The event had to be celebrated over the net, which was a good thing. Now it is accessible to everyone with a smart phone!
Imagine adding a patent or a paper to your CV. This will set you apart as a rare person who shows creativity. Perhaps a set of students in a college should organize an event named the “Ideas of March” on the 31st of the month when selected ideas would be presented to an audience.
A committee could award the ideas selected a first Prize of Rs 1000, a second prize of Rs 500, and two third prizes of Rs 250. Many colleges have student chapters of professional societies, and they have small budgets. A requirement should be that the candidates submit their ideas in written form. The submissions may not meet the requirements of a patent application or an academic paper. However, the selection committee would prefer submissions that are good drafts for patent applications or academic papers.
An R&D professional could be asked to give a talk about the company's patent and publication-related activities.
While such an event would be fun, the focus should be on encouraging everyone in the audience to develop and record their best ideas. The future will see a tremendous growth of ideas. Our world of 8.2 billion people filed 3,552,100 patent applications in 2023. However, many were utility model patents, called petty patents or innovation patents in some countries. They are given patent protection only for 6 or 7 years.
Utility patents meet a higher standard. They cover new and useful processes, machines, articles of manufacture, compositions of matter, or any new and useful improvements, and are given patent protection for twenty years.
China produced 1,642,507 patent applications in 2023, the US made 518,364, and India produced 64,480. However, Indian patent applications showed 15.7% annual growth, while Chinese patent applications showed 3.6% yearly growth. You can visit www.wipo.int for more information.
What is meant by the phrase “the Ides of March”? Could you search for it?
Srinivasan Ramani
