Tamil Nadu urges innovators to commercialise their Intellectual Property

Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Udhayanidhi Stalin speaks at the first annual Innovate in Tamil Nadu (IN2TN) IP Conclave in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, on July 30, 2025.

DMK has consistently worked to ensure emerging technologies help the society, and former CM Karunanidhi was a visionary and the first CM to launch an IT policy for a state, Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Udhayanidhi Stalin said on Wednesday as he inaugurated the first annual Innovate in Tamil Nadu (IN2TN) IP Conclave in Chennai.

“With events like this, the state government hopes to scale and commercialise the state’s IP…TN has plenty of investment opportunities, and we urge investors to partner with us early on in our innovation ecosystem,” he said.

Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, Minister for Information Technology & Digital Services (IT&DS), said that Tamil Nadu makes up almost 17 per cent of total patents filed in India, and it has shown that a state can focus on both growth and social justice together.

The conclave themed “Intellectual Powerhouse: Transforming Tamil Nadu into the Innovation Capital of India” was organised by Tamil Nadu Technology (iTNT) Hub, functioning under the Information Technology & Digital Services Department, Government of Tamil Nadu.

Commodore Amit Rastogi (Retd), Chairman & Managing Director, National Research & Development Corporation, pointed out the growth of patent filing activity in recent years. Tamil Nadu was at the top in terms of number of patents filed in FY24 at 7,686. This was largely contributed by organisations such as IIT-Madras, Anna University, Zoho, Ashok Leyland, and others.

Josh Foulger, President – Electronics, ZETWERK, a speaker at the event, urged innovators to patent their work when they innovate or build processes. “We at Zetwerk have started a group currently, which may in future become a company, called ZEAL- Zetwerk Electronics Automation Lab, for in-house needs currently and plan to do it commercially also,” he said.

The Deputy CM also handed over cheques for seed funds under iTNT Hub’s Foundation Fund to five deep and emerging tech start-ups incubated under the PATHFINDER programme at iTNT Hub.

The Tamil Nadu Technology Transfer Facilitation Centre (TNTTFC) at iTNT Hub also facilitated four Technology Transfers between academic researchers and industries at the event. iTNT Hub also exchanged seven Memorandums of Understanding at the event.

Published on July 30, 2025