Chandigarh, Jan. 23 -- Despite a steady rise in patents granted over the past five years, Panjab University has seen only limited translation of its intellectual property into real world use, with official data showing that just four patents have been commercialised and nine transferred to external entities against a total of 90 granted during the period. Patents follow two post-grant pathways; technology transfer or commercialisation. For PU, technology transfer does not involve handing over ownership rights. Instead, external organisations are permitted to use the technology in return for royalties or upfront payments, while ownership remains with the university. Commercialisation, on the other hand, involves converting a patent into a market ready product or service. Several institutional layers are involved in moving a patent from lab to market, including intellectual property, legal, licensing and technology transfer cells. PU currently has two bodies handling its patent ecosystem. The Centre for Industry-Institute Partnership Programme (CIIPP), a university department, focuses on collaborations, reimbursements and patent facilitation for faculty. Along with, DST-Technology Enabling Centre (TEC), funded by the Department of Science and Technology, works at regional and national levels to strengthen industry-academia linkages. PU hosts one of the 22 TECs established across the country. According to Kashmir Singh, coordinator and principal investigator at the DST-Centre for Policy Research (CPR), PU, the core issue lies in aligning academic innovation with real-world demand. He said that many patents fail to progress beyond the grant stage because they are not designed to address local or national needs. "For innovations to be commercialised, they must respond to market and societal requirements. Much of the research currently remains at the laboratory level and is not sufficiently aligned with industry or user demand," Singh said. The patenting process in itself is lengthy and highly technical. It begins with the filing of a patent application at the Indian Patent Office, after which the application is published, usually 18 months from the filing date. Publication places the invention in the public domain, allowing third parties to review it, raise pre-grant oppositions and enabling industries to explore potential licensing or collaboration. A request for examination is then filed, following which a government appointed patent examiner conducts a detailed prior art search, covering existing national and international patents, to assess novelty, inventiveness and industrial applicability. This examination process can take several years before a patent is either granted or rejected. Individually, patents enhance academic profiles, while institutionally, they contribute to metrics used in ranking frameworks such as NIRF. CIIPP manager Prateek Sahni said the university is developing a structured mechanism to better track patents, including those abandoned before or after filing. He added that many faculty members initially bear patent filing costs themselves and later seek reimbursement, while patents that are not formally reported risk going unrecognised. Speaking about the gap between the number of patents granted and those that are eventually commercialised, Sahni said "scientific expertise alone is often insufficient for commercial success, particularly when inventors lack business networks or exposure to market dynamics". VC Renu Vig said the DST-TEC was established in 2018 to promote patent awareness and strengthen support systems within the university. "It is a fairly new and growing concept for Panjab University, and it will require time to come into full fruition," she said, adding that efforts are ongoing to improve mechanisms....