Indian Inventors in US

More Indians In US Turn Inventors, Says Study
www.thehindubusinessline.com
NEW DELHI, INDIA, September 5, 2007: Indian immigrants in the United States are making a strong mark for themselves with an ever-increasing number turning into inventors in the country, a recent study says. According to a report prepared by a team of researchers from Harvard, Duke and New York Universities, the number of Indian nationals contributing to US international patent applications touched 5.5 percent in 2006. This is a sharp rise compared to just 1.6 percent in 1998. Indians constitute less than one percent of the US population. "During this period, there was a large influx of highly educated Indians into the US and they contributed immensely to the intellectual capital of American corporations and universities," Mr. Vivek Wadhwa, a fellow at the Harvard Law School and executive-in-residence at Duke University, one of the authors of the report said.

Analyzing the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications from the US at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the researchers found contribution of inventors with Indian-heritage names increased to 13.7 percent from 9.5 percent during 1998-2006 period. Besides, Indian and Chinese inventors file most patents in the fields of sanitation, medical preparations, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and electronics. "Indian-born entrepreneurs in the US founded more engineering and technology firms (from 1995-2005) than the next immigrant groups--from UK, China, Taiwan and Japan combined," the report also reveals.

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Sriniketan