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Monday, September 24, 2012

E Book- Promoting Innovation in Clusters

I have raised several issues in building innovation cluster in countries like India where academic spin-off/ pay-offs are not significant.

Clusters are groups of firms, related actors, and institutions that are located near one another and that draw productive advantage from their mutual proximity and connections. Clusters arise and grow because the firms within them profit materially from the presence of powerful “externalities” and “spillovers” that bring them important competitive advantages, ranging from the presence of a specialized workforce to supplier specialization and the exchange of leading edge knowledge. Today, the US economic maps show scores of local agglomerations: biotech in Boston, information technology in Silicon Valley, entertainment in Hollywood, horse trailer manufacturing in north Texas, marine technologies in eastern North Carolina and wine in southern Washington. Clusters are prominent in Europe too. On average, every fourth company (employing at least 20 persons) in the European Union (24%) work in a cluster-like environment characterized by close cooperation with other local businesses and strong ties to local business infrastructure. 

Based on US and European success a new movement started all across the globe to promote regional innovation clusters. The paradox is that while all agree that no where governments succeeded in creating an innovation cluster out of nothings, all nations are working to promote clusters and to make them more innovative. The search is for identifying a cluster that already exist but not passed the market test as hot spot though potential exists. Some factors are considered more important than others to determine the potential, like University linkages, Social Capital of cluster, Access to heterogeneous knowledge, Intervention by public authorities. 

In India, Innovation Cluster project was initiated at three places, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and NCR region and in this paper we present our learning on managing white spaces to make a cluster innovative.


Download paper from SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1917291

The learning from Indian pilot to build innovation clusters is captured in this 130 pages E Book. Topics covered:
  • Overview of Clusters in India
  • Global Models of Innovation
  • Technology Upgradation for Promoting Innovation in Indian Clusters
  • Implementation Challenges and Opportunities Analysis in the Indian Context
  • Proposed Implementation Framework at Cluster Level
For copies contact:

Hyderabad Technology Expo under DST- Lockheed Martin India Innovation Growth Programme Sep 26, 2012, Hotel ITC Kakatiya, Hyderabad

Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) jointly with the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Indo-US S&T Forum and the IC2 Institute at the University of Texas at Austin is organizing a Technology Expo on 26th September 2012 at Hotel ITC Kakatiya, Hyderabad.
The Hyderabad Expo will showcase a number of innovative technologies selected under the IIGP 2012. About 30 technologies are expected to be on display that have been developed by innovators across the country and across the sectors. Approximately 50 business deals will be signed and concluded at the Expo connecting the innovators to industry, investors, venture funds and angel funds.

ITRI signs MOU with SKYQEST


Skyquest signed up an MOU with Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu, Taiwan for Technology Commercialization support on 21st September 2012 at Taipei International Invention Show INST 2012 in Taipei.

About ITRI: A leading High Technology R&D Center under Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt of Taiwan. It has been granted average of 5 patents a day for more than 10 years. It has approx 16000 Patents across sectors, an MIT equivalent in Asia… http://www.itri.org.tw/eng/

About Skyquest: SkyQuest Technology Group is one of the rapidly growing organization supporting Innovation ecosystems worldwide providing access to technologies, markets and finance. We work closely with innovators, inventors, innnovation seekers, entrepreneurs, companies, government agencies and investor alike in leveraging external sources of R&D and capitalize on market opportunities. www.skyquestt.com

Sunday, September 23, 2012

US -AID , TDB and FICCI promote Millennium Alliance (MA) to support innovators


The Millennium Alliance is currently conducting Innovation Workshops across the country to spread awareness about the scheme and its benefits to innovators. The outcome expectation from such workshops is to connect with innovators directly or indirectly through their business associates, friends and well-wishers. Based on stage of innovation, funding between $50,000 (approx. Rs. 25,00,000)and $750,000 (approx. Rs. 3,75,00,000) is available to select innovations. 

More details can be found on the website, http://www.millenniumalliance.in


For the year 2012, the Innovations shall be shortlisted, selected, and awarded in two rounds.
The 1st round  started on the date of the launch of the MA (July 10, 2012) and will end with awards ceremony on or close to February 15, 2013. Non-government entities, educational institutes and independent innovators are all eligible.Interested applicants must first submit an LoI. All LoI submissions must be submitted using the LoI form posted at www.millenniumalliace.in. As requested by the LOI, applicants should describe the purpose of the project, summarize the project’s goals, and include financial information for the project among other criteria in the LOI. Attachments to the LoI will not be reviewed. If MA finds the project proposed in the LoI to be responsive to the selection criteria, then the applicant will be invited to submit a Full Application. 





Saturday, September 08, 2012

Contribution of TK Sarkar to development of Industrial Electronics Applications

TK Sarkar retired as Scientist -G and Group Head , Industrial Application division of DOE/ DIT/DEITY after an illustrious career. Unfortunately his contributions like most of the good work done by Department of Electronics and Information Technology in engineering sector is poorly documented. I had long association with him and banked on his technological insights in supporting R&D projects of industry in electronics. And in all most all cases, I found he funded relevant lab level work in one of IITs or CSIR/ CDAC. In a way the pre-commercial projects funded by DSIR were a continuation of Research project funded by DOE.

His most significant contribution is establishment of National Center of execellence in Power Electronics- NaMPET. Hope to write more about the R&D projects supported by TK Sarkar in future.

Friday, September 07, 2012

INNOVATION TURKIYE EXPO, 2012


INNOVATION TURKIYE EXPO will be held on 01-04 NOVEMBER 2012, in İstanbul Expo Centre. The expo will feature the projects supported by REPUBLIC OF TURKEY SCIENCE, INDUSTRY AND TECHNOLOGY MINISTRY, TÜBİTAK(The Scientific and Tecnological Research Council of Turkey), REPUBLIC OF TURKEY MINISTRY OF DEVELOPMENT and DEVELOPMENT AGENCIES and patented by TURKISH PATENT INSTITUTE.
Indian Innovators interested to participate may contactAliye CEBECİ, Project Director, aliye@aktiffuarcilik.com