Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Monday said implications of science should be universal without any monopoly.
"All should have universal implications and consequences with regard to innovations that would lead to the uplift and amelioration of human conditions," Abdullah said while addressing the 101st annual session of the Indian Science Congress at the University of Jammu.
The session (Feb 3-7) focuses on the theme "Innovations in Science and Technology for Inclusive Development".
He added that global public goods like cure for AIDS or cancer and diffusion of technologies to better and improved services and systems for mankind cannot be patented.
Abdullah said the human quests since millennia can be said to involve a pursuit to improve the human conditions and existence and push the frontiers of the minds and imagination towards innovations and scientific growth as a natural concomitant and consequence of the quest.
The chief minister said: "Open science is more conducive to the growth of society`s stock of knowledge. I, therefore, call for an approach that aligns befitting returns from science and knowledge."
"There should be no monopoly on the use of application of science, technology and implications," he said, adding that while patents on innovations may give a sense of ownership to the innovation and science entrepreneur, the benefits of science should not be exclusive.
The chief minister said India has been the cradle of science, technology and innovations and its contributions in these fields are well known.
"Our country and countrymen also have great absorptive and synthesising capacities. This is a special and a unique gift of great value in an age where time and space have compressed," he said, maintaining that India is blessed with open mind, tolerant attitude, curiosity and the creative impulse, and India can be a pioneer in innovation, science and technology.
