The influx of research institutes, universities, manufacturing and IT companies in Chandigarh, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh has become a cynosure of Intellectual Property (IP) consultancy firms. There are over a dozen firms in public and private sector besides individual consultants in Chandigarh and Mohali which cater to businesses and technical institutions in their innovation, patents, trademarks and IP valuation.

Some of the companies engaged in offering IP-related services include TT Consultants, Signicent LLP, GreyB, Logicapt and PatentsKart. The latest to launch operations in Mohali is Noida-based Effectual Services. It plans to hire over 50 people in immediate future to provide IP solution to Fortune 500 companies, law firms, research institutes, universities, and venture capital and PE firms.

Amit Aggarwal, co-founder and Director, Effectual Services, said “Mohali was a sensible choice for us to serve our clients better. Opening a second office in India was a step in our business growth strategy to cater to the increasing demand.”

According to experts, low operating cost and the presence of research institutions in the region are the two main factors which are attracting IP consultancy firms here.

“We have a pharma cluster in Baddi, number of research institutes and universities such as National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, Mohali, Centre of Innovative and Applied Bio-processing, Institute of Microbial Technology, IIT-Ropar, Chitkara University and Chandigarh University among others. There is an ample scope for IP-related services here,” said Harit Mohan, CEO, Signicent LLP (Mohali).