School of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Institution's Innovation council (IIC), Shoolini University, based in Himachal Pradesh, organized a one-day workshop on Intellectual Property Rights on 17 September, 2019 with the theme 'IPR and Startup challenges and opportunities with special reference to women entrepreneurship in association with Consortium of Women Entrepreneurs of India (CWEI)'. CWEI was registered in 1996 as a civil society non-profit organization in New Delhi with a mandate to work in the sub-continent.

This workshop was inaugurated by Prof. (Dr) PS Kausal, Vice Chancellor, UHF, Nauni, Solan. He congratulated Shoolini University for being among the top patent filers across the country. In a motivating speech, he highlighted the urgency for creating a mass 'IPR literacy' movement in the state of Himachal Pradesh. Dr. Kausal also stressed on the need to take benefits of innovations to the society at large. He indicated that Indian Institutions have very high potential, which has hardly been under utilized.

Divya Kaushik, Scientist, Punjab Council for Science and Technology (PSCST) gave an overview on IPR as well as the different forms of IPR. She stressed on the significant role of IP in an innovation-based economy, different types of IPs, as well as the government policies and schemes for start-ups. She explained the conditions for patenting, non-patentable inventions, trademarks and brand building. Ms. Kaushik also took everyone through the entire procedure of getting copyrights, as well as the copyright act including for appropriate protection and use in the industry. She further discussed the process of patenting, documentation requirements, patent filing procedure, types of patent applications, and anatomy of the patent.

The scientific session was concluded with an open house panel discussion on the topic How to ignite innovations in young researcher's mind and start-up opportunities & challenges for women Entrepreneurs in India. There were about 200 participants across different disciplines, Pharmacy, Engineering, Biotechnology, food technology, Basic Sciences and Management Sciences including faculty members. The participants benefited immensely about innovation and IP. The workshop concluded with a vote of thanks from Dean, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences to members of CWEI, guests, all the participants and team organizing committee.