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Maharashtra gets Rs 60 crore MANTRA centre for patents
Maharashtra's Rs 60 crore MANTRA centre aims to turn university patents into commercial products. A two-phase rollout starts July 1 with a Patent Bank and faculty training programme.
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The Maharashtra government has given in-principle approval for a state-level MANTRA Centre with a Rs 60 crore allocation. The centre will handle patent filing, intellectual property management, and commercialisation of university research, the Higher and Technical Education Department said in a statement.
The department set up an expert committee chaired by Dr A B Pandit, Vice Chancellor of the Institute of Chemical Technology in Mumbai, after identifying a gap in institutional support for researchers during the patent process. The committee recommended a two-phase approach. In the first phase, MANTRA – short for Maharashtra Academy for Nurturing Technology, Research and Intellectual Assets – will start operations from July 1 at the University of Mumbai's Kalina Campus. A 30-hour, two-credit training programme called 'Sankalp' will be introduced for faculty across higher education institutions in the state.
The department also plans to create a state-level Patent Bank, a repository for patents generated by educational institutions. That bank would allow industry to identify and license technologies developed within Maharashtra's universities, rather than letting them sit unused. The second phase will shift focus to technology transfer, industry collaboration, and wider use of the intellectual property created in academia, the release said.