A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY ON ROLE OF TAX INCENTIVES IN PROMOTING R&D IN THE COUNTRY (INDIA)

This report is the outcome of the project commissioned under the National Science and Technology Management Information System (NSTMIS) scheme on International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials, a DST institution located in Hyderabad. Shri K.V.S.P. Rao, ex-Scientist-G & Head-RDI Division in the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research is the Principal Investigator for the project and Dr Sanjay Bhardwaj, Head, Centre for Technology Acquisition and Transfer, ARCI, Hyderabad is the Co-Principal Investigator for the project.

10. Conclusions and Recommendations 

10.1. Conclusions • The industrial R&D has shown significant growth over the years, Indian Industry has gained technological competence and has played a pivotal role in accruing significant economic benefits through R&D efforts. • The Industry has responded with remarkable growth rate in R&D expenditure, increased turnovers and making a niche in the Global R&D scenario. It has also provided significant benefits in terms of employment generation, better healthcare, reducing environmental pollutions, energy utilization. • Based on the data studied, it is observed that duty exemptions and weighted tax deductions over the years has helped the growth of in-house R&D units. • Many foreign companies are still interested to take the benefits of the incentives but removal of weighted tax deduction has discouraged them while taking investment decision on R&D in India. • The Joint Committee of Industry and Government of India in its report made in May 2013, recorded that the current R&D incentives, 200% Weighted Tax deductions offered by the Government of India is one of the best in the world already. The report also suggests- while retaining the current direct and indirect fiscal incentives, some rationalization for covering the entire value chain of industrial R&D and technology commercialization may be examined and simplification and rationalization processes enacted.

Schemes and programmes to enable R&D as a source of revenue generation may be announced for the benefit of the industry. Such companies create good R&D infrastructure to carry out R&D work for its translation into industrial production with innovative business models. This also helps in monetisation of the R&D efforts. • India is gradually progressing in its R&D efforts. The current incentives have helped the industry in boosting the R&D investments in the country. The R&D expenditure by companies have grown over the years, however, for the R&D to have a substantial growth, more private funding in R&D is still needed. • The R&D units have developed products and technologies for manufacture of world class products. Due to the Automobile boom since 1990s many Japanese, German, US, and British manufacturers have established their manufacturing units in India taking advantage of the highly competitive automobile component industry. Even luxury automobile manufacturing companies from Europe and USA started their units in India. To compete with them, Indian companies have also expanded their manufacturing bases and R&D units all over the country. • A similar trend was seen in pharmaceuticals including bulk drugs, intermediates and APIs. Huge investments were seen in the R&D units with an eye on export markets. USFDA approval was also given to many companies indicating their superiority and competitiveness at par with global companies. Emerging areas like biotechnology products for healthcare, industrial products and services have also sprung up in medium scale to small scale levels. MNCs have also established their manufacturing units independently and as joint ventures with Indian companies.

It is therefore time to review the policy on fiscal incentives for industrial research and development and reintroduce incentives in a selective manner especially for those sectors which are still in the growth phase. • Companies with large spends on R&D have, no doubt availed fiscal incentives and benefited the most across all the sectors. Even though small and medium companies have also availed the benefits of fiscal incentives, there are many more firms whose expenditures have not been much as their R&D budgets are quite low. The 100 larger companies have spent amount of Rs. 3685600 lakhs of which 74 companies, spending above Rs.100 Cr, have spent an aggregate of Rs.3459700 lakhs. If we take the average spending of companies incurring more than Rs.100 crores on research and development, it works out to the order of Rs.474 crores per company.

Details : KVSP RAO, kvsp13@gmail.com

Vaccine policy USA and India

 

The US is considered to be the home of the most virulent form of capitalism. This could be seen in the pride of place accorded to private sector enterprises in that country, and it is also Extract from Sunil Mani article:

The home of some of the largest and most innovative companies in a range of industries. In the area of medical R&D in general and in the development of vaccines, the federal government in the US has worked very closely with the market. What they did is easily visible from a range of instruments that the federal government has invoked to jump-start the R&D and production of vaccines for a new and unknown disease. A survey of these support instruments reveals that they have tried out every tool of state support available in the book. But the most important of which is the importance that the US has given to fundamental research on vaccines, which eventually helped it develop highly effective vaccines within a brief period. The US has now gone a step further in assigning a greater role for the government, even applied developmental research. This has manifested in the senate passing a new bill called the United States Innovation and Competition Act of 2021 in June 2021. This is an essential lesson for countries such as India that it must support basic research on vaccine development in one of its numerous public laboratories. The second lesson that the US case has for us is the prime importance of involving the public sector. In the US, this is confined to the performance and finance of R&D itself. In the case of India, the public sector must be involved not only in the performance and financing of R&D but also in the manufacturing of vaccines as considerable installed capacity exists in the industry.

Further, the public sector laboratories and institutes have a long history of manufacturing and supplying high-quality vaccines. They must be involved in vaccine production for COVID-19, even if it is only in the long run. In other words, the public and private sectors must complement each other. The government can play an essential role in crafting the sectoral system of innovation of the COVID-19 vaccine industry, just like what the US has done it already. The third lesson for India is that the state must play an active and timely role in improving the availability of critical inputs for manufacturing and distributing vaccines in an industry whose value chain is globally distributed. The three issues indicate a more significant role for industrial policy than what is practised on an ad hoc basis now. Recent events and discussions have shown that a historically free-market-oriented economy such as that of the US is finding much relevance for a more significant role for industrial policy. In comparison, a historically state-directed economy such as India seems to be moving towards a more substantial role for the market with potential adverse consequences.

Further reading: https://www.epw.in/journal/2022/48/special-articles/role-industrial-policy-market-friendly-economies.html

INEX 2022, Goa

 

Solve 2022 Impact report

 

Solve is on a mission to drive innovation to solve world challenges. As an initiative of MIT, Solve uses open innovation challenges to find the most promising tech-based social entrepreneurs from all around the world. With the support of our community, including nearly 100 organizations that span industries and sectors, we provide funding and resources to help innovators scale and drive lasting impact.

Download the report:  https://info.solve.mit.edu/hubfs/Solve%202022%20Impact%20Report%20(2).pdf?

INDIA’S INNOVATION BUZZ- ROLE OF Public, Private, Media

Celebrating India’s 75th independence, Indian Prime Minister added `Jai anusandhan' (Research and Innovation) to spur nation to build Innovative India. Earlier the then Prime Minister declared 2010 to 2020 as ` Decade of Innovation'. Will the results be different now? 

The crucial difference is that the call of Innovation Decade did not result in any medals as there are no runners. Now the situation is different- funding for Proof-of- Concept, Innovation Challenges and Demand for local innovations under Make-In- India initiative have created a formidable group of innovators with potential to succeed in world stage. This paper is from upcoming book-Top 100 Indian Innovations.

Download paper: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4266737

Draft University Grants Commission (Minimum Standards and Procedures for Award of Ph.D. Degree) Regulations, 2022

 Highights of the draft:

Focus on teaching

All Ph.D., entrants irrespective of discipline, shall be required to take credit-based courses in teaching/education/pedagogy/writing related to their chosen Ph.D. subject during their doctoral training period. Ph.D. scholars may also have 3-4 hours per week of actual teaching experience gathered through teaching assistantships or other forms of knowledge dissemination that are not repetitive. Teaching for the Department, supervision of fellow students/technical staff, dissemination tasks can also be credited as knowledge dissemination and as a work commitment.

IPR

Lifelong learners/ accomplished researchers as evinced from their original contributions in terms of patents granted or 10 new relevant knowledge or/and artistic practices desirous to get a research degree the Research Advisory Committee may provide choices in selecting the courses/ credits that facilitates the entrepreneur in the monetization of IP thus generated.

If the research results of the thesis constitute new possible things for the protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs), the Ph.D. candidate and Supervisor shall inform the University or the Research Advisory Committee about the matter. In this case, the Ph.D. candidate, with the consent of the Supervisor, may request that the submitted dissertation be treated discreetly before the thesis is submitted for assessment, until the defence/viva-voce. The IPR Cell or the competent body of the university designated for the purpose shall 14 conduct the procedure for legal and commercial protection of research results, in accordance with the relevant Regulations. In this case, the public defence can be extended, in agreement with the Ph.D. candidate, at the latest for a year, starting on the day of the procedure of evaluation of the dissertation. 

Plagiarism

The thesis shall be submitted together with an originality report produced by an antiplagiarism software application. The supervisor (and co-supervisor, if there is any) shall receive an originality report on the whole text of the thesis and shall take this report into account in the evaluation on the submission. 

Publication

It is desirable that the research work of Ph.D. scholars is published in peer reviewed or refereed journals and presented in conferences/seminars. An originality report is not to be considered as sufficient proof that the submitted thesis does not contain plagiarized text. Avoiding plagiarism and other forms of academic misconduct in the authorship of the thesis remains the sole responsibility of the researcher. If the Research Supervisor (or Co-Supervisor) suspects plagiarism, he or she may ask for an investigation.

Top Product Innovations from India

This book is a compilation of Indian Innovations, physical and embodied. Indian Unicorns, business models, commerce & Financial innovations are widely covered by media. Not much is known about product innovations, and the innovators behind product innovations are relatively unknown. This will be the first book that fills the gap. It is intended as yearbook to the published every year. 

Planned for formal release on 17th Novemeber 2022 diring INEX 2022, Goa. Buy online at 

https://notionpress.com/read/top-100-indian-innovations-2022?

Press launch of INEX, Invention Expo

Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI)’s AIS-140 standard

The Automotive Industry Standard 140 (AIS standard) is a collection of regulations produced by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) for all public transit systems in India to develop an Intelligent Transportation System. This required measure was made when the government recognized the critical need to increase efficiency in India’s transportation sector. As a result, the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) was created. Road traffic management and mitigation, public transportation management, and crisis management are all covered by ITS. It is an internationally proven method that allows the transportation authority to obtain control of the country’s entire transportation movement. As a result, the AIS guidelines were developed. Among these are the AIS 140 guidelines. While a typical GPS device can only broadcast a vehicle’s location to one server, an AIS 140 GPS device can send the location to three servers at the same time.

Draft of guidelines: 

https://morth.nic.in/sites/default/files/Finalized_Draft_AIS_140_regarding_Intelligent_Transportation_Systems_.pdf

Story of Startup Loconav: https://www.entrepreneur.com/en-in/entrepreneurs/more-than-deployment-this-fleet-tech-is-reshaping-modern/386423

Airtels AIS140 system: https://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/airtel-launches-always-on-iot-solution-for-vehicle-tracking-automakers/94856450?

75 AI products developed in India by DRDO and DPSUs.

The Indian Defence industry is taking giant steps in transforming the armed forces into one of the most advanced in the world. The adoption of technology based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) will revolutionise the Indian Military. It also places India firmly in the huge defence product market. Government support and plans to modernize the military through AI is a result of years of groundwork. Bold policies, dedicated budgets, policy changes and the thrust towards indigenisation, have helped create an atmosphere of cutting-edge innovation and collaboration. This joint effort among industry both public and private, research organisations, academic institutions, start-ups and innovators has helped create many unique technological products based on AI in the areas of data, logistics, surveillance, weapons and many more. The introduction of autonomy in weapon systems, in ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance), data management, can be a huge asset in stopping terrorism, installing counter-terrorism measures, protecting soldiers. In fact, AI in defence can change combat and conflict at the deepest levels. This book is a compendium of some stupendous products and stellar achievements in AI-based technologies in defence by individuals, companies and institutions towards catapulting the Indian defence industry into a major global force.

Read: https://www.ddpmod.gov.in/sites/default/files/ai.pdf

iDEX DISC7 (SPRINT) challenges- last date 15th August 2022

 

SPRINT (Supporting Pole-vaulting in R&D through iDEX, NIIO and TDAC) is a collaborative project between the Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO) and NIIO aimed at developing atleast 75 indigenous technologies / products as a part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. The challenges span across a wide range of niche technology fields including Artificial Intelligence (AI), autonomous and unmanned systems and Information Technology. Challenges will be considered under both DISC (Defence India Startup Challenge) and Prime categories of iDEX which have provisions for grants upto Rs 1.5 crore and Rs 10 crore respectively. In addition, suo moto proposals submitted by innovators and startups under the IDEX Open Challenge category are also being considered under SPRINT.

See the challenges here: 

https://idex.gov.in/sites/default/files/2022-07/iDEX%20DISC%207%20SPRINT%20Challenge%20description%20.pdf

Application form: https://idex.gov.in/form/disc-7-sprint

Tamilnadu R&D policy- thrust on private sector R&D and Global Capacity Centres

While the Government of India is waiting approval of draft 5th National Science, Technology and Innovation policy, Tamilnadu sate quietly released state R&D policy. It is remarkable in two ways, first most of funding for R&D comes from central government departments and second focus on R&D investment by commercial firms.

Highlights on incentives:

One of the key policy objectives is to boost private R&D expenditure. Private businesses engage in R&D activities mainly to increase the competitiveness of their products and services and hence innovation is intrinsic to their growth. Private sector participation in R&D is vital to create an impetus for innovation-led growth for the State. The Government of Tamil Nadu recognizes the private sector as the engine of growth of R&D in the State and hence shall support the business initiatives related to establishment and expansion of R&D Centres and GCCs through various targeted incentives.

4.2.1. Land Cost Incentive for Standalone R&D Projects R&D projects shall be given an incentive of 50% of the cost of purchase or lease of land for up to 20 acre, subject to a ceiling of Rs. 50 lakh/acre. 

4.2.2. R&D Training Incentive R&D Training Incentive of Rs. 10,000 per person per month can be availed for 12 months for the residents of Tamil Nadu. This incentive is intended for employees engaged in core R&D who have an undergraduate degree in technology/sciences and a work experience of 7 years, or a post-graduate degree in technology/sciences and a work experience of 5 years, or a doctorate in sciences/technology.

4.2.3. Enhanced Quality Certification Incentive Projects obtaining certifications like ISO, ISI, BIS, FPO, BEE, AGMARK, and ECOMARK or any other national or international certification shall be given a subsidy of 50% of the total cost incurred for obtaining the certification, as certified by the Chartered Accountant, limited to Rs. 1 cr. for the period of investment. 

4.2.4. Enhanced Intellectual Property Incentive The Government will reimburse 50% of the expenditure incurred by the Project subject to a maximum of Rs. 1 cr. for the period of investment for in-house R&D for a patent, copyright, trademarks, and Geographical Indicators registration and up to Rs 5 cr. for standalone R&D assets.

Also read Hindu article -The untold story of silent revolution.

100 Top Innovations 2022

 

Indian Innovators Association is coming out with this publication. Self nomination accepted. Send before end of July 2022.

Seeking Public Comments on the proposed draft for amendment in Part-I and Part-II of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (“IT Rules, 2021”)

Government of India is seeking Public Comments on the proposed draft for amendment in Part-I and Part-II of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (“IT Rules, 2021”). Last date 6th July 2022. 

Spicy IP commented on the proposed amendment:

1. That all intermediaries shall ensure accessibility to its services and maintain reasonable expectations of due diligence, privacy and transparency.

2. That all intermediaries shall respect the rights of citizens guaranteed under the Constitution of India.

3. That all intermediaries shall act on complaints for removal of content falling under Rule 3(1)(b)(i)-(x) within 72 hours of receipt of complaint.

4. That a Grievance Appellate Committee shall be set-up to hear appeals against decisions of the Grievance Redressal Officer under Rule 3(2).

5. That all intermediaries shall have to comply with the decision of the Grievance Appellate Committee., 

Read and comment.

Technology Export control in India-SCOMET list

(Source: NASSCOM)

Four Multilateral Export Control Regimes (“MECRs”) came into force in the wake of India’s nuclear tests in 1974 and Iraq’s use of chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq war in 1980-1988. MECRs sought to control the trade of dual-use (both civilian and military) goods, services and technology (collectively referred to as “items”). India is a member of three MECRs and maintains a list of items controlled for export: the Special Chemicals, Organism, Material, Equipment and Technologies (“SCOMET”) list. India has aligned itself with the MECRs and ensures that it closely scrutinizes trade of SCOMET items to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands and being utilised for illegitimate purposes. However, this also affects entities who trade SCOMET items for legitimate business purposes.  

Further reading:

https://www.ikigailaw.com/export-control-in-india-the-scomet-list/

https://nasscom.in/sites/default/files/SCOMET08ITT_Booklet_NASSCOM_24072021.pdf

Modelling Scenarios

Policy economist Suman Bery joined NITI Aayog as Vice-Chairman.  For four years, (until mid-2016) Mr Bery was Chief Economist of Shell International, based in The Hague (The Netherlands). He was part of the senior leadership of Shell’s global scenarios group, exploring pathways that would allow the world to reconcile decent living with lower carbon. While with Shell he collaborated with Indian research institutions on scenarios for Indian energy policy. (Energizing India. Sage, 2017. New Delhi).

Scenario writing

A scenario is a written description of a situation. Kahn and Wiener(1967) defined Scenarios as follows: “Scenarios are hypothetical sequences of events constructed for the purpose of focussing attention on casual processes and decision points.” Scenario planning is not a 'tea leaf'-type technique. It does not generate forecasts of the future, but instead, paints pictures of possible futures. The aim is not to sit back and wait for the future to happen, but to prepare for what might actually occur. Scenario planning allows decision makers to anticipate potential futures and prepare action plans today that will safeguard their organisations, tomorrow, whatever actually does take place. Scenario planning gives more than a statistical measure of possible future, it should give a feel of living in the future, a sort of journey on a time machine. 

(Further reading- Timing it right with Technology Forecasting)

Shell Scenarios

Shell has been developing possible visions of the future since the early 1970s, helping generations of Shell leaders, academics, governments and businesses to explore ways forward and make better decisions. Shell Scenarios ask “what if?” questions, encouraging leaders to consider events that may only be remote possibilities and stretch their thinking.

https://youtu.be/nwub4Bhr-aM

Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors (SPECS)

(source: https://eracon.info/assets/files/2020/presentations/CP1.pdf)
 

Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors (SPECS) provides financial incentive of 25% on capital expenditure for the identified list of electronic goods that comprise downstream value chain of electronic products, i.e., electronic components, semiconductor / display fabrication units, ATMP units, specialized sub-assemblies and capital goods for manufacture of aforesaid goods. The scheme is open to receive applications till 31.03.2023. As on February 28, 2022, the Executive Committee (EC) has approved 23 applications with total project outlay of Rs.6,816 crore and committed incentives of Rs 1,245 crore.

Australia-India ECTA (Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement)

 India unhappy with many Free Trade Agreements (FTA) it signed, walked out of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Australia is one of the 15 countries that signed RCEP. Now India signed separate bilateral agreement with Australia. Many of India's concerns appear to have been addressed in this ECTA.

SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES

        Where certification is required for trade in a product, the importing Party shall ensure that such certification is applied, in meeting its SPS objectives, only to the extent necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health. The importing Party shall accept certificates issued by the competent authorities of the exporting Party that are in compliance with the regulatory requirements of the importing Party. Import checks, conducted in accordance with the importing Party’s laws, regulations, and sanitary and phytosanitary requirements, shall be based on the sanitary and phytosanitary risk associated with importations. The import checks shall be carried out in a manner that is least trade-restrictive and without undue delay.

TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE

        Where technical regulations are required and relevant international standards exist or their completion is imminent, each Party shall use them, or relevant parts of them, as a basis for its technical regulations except when such international standards or relevant parts would be an ineffective or inappropriate means for the fulfilment of the legitimate objectives pursued, for instance because of fundamental climatic or geographical factors or fundamental technological problems. Where a Party does not use such international standards, or their relevant parts, as a basis for its technical regulations and these may have a significant effect on its trade with the other Party, it shall, upon request of the other Party, explain the reasons therefore.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

       Each Party shall encourage the mutual recognition of the relevant qualifications, licensing or certification requirements, including in regulated or licensed occupations under various industry and business sectors. Each Party shall encourage its relevant bodies to organise or facilitate bilateral discussions on occupational skill sets and standards in specific regulated or licensed occupations, based on the request of the other Party. The Parties shall endeavour to work towards sharing of information on the skill shortage and skill sets desirable for those occupations.

Report on Evaluation of Innovation Excellence Indicators of Public Funded R&D Organisations

 

A quality report but wrongly titled as talk of  innovation excellence is pre-mature.

A total of 193 R&D labs were considered for this report from out of 660 listed in DST directory. A  majority 70% have either not responded or do not have details for analysis, strange considering this is an initiate of Office of Principal Scientific Adviser. Innovation Excellence is covered under the pillar Science, Technology & Innovation Excellence' which measured Scholarly Research Output, Development and Innovation Output , Commercialisation of Technologies,  Revenue Generation and Collaborative Research. The findings:

• The patent filings have slowed from 657 in 2017-18 to around 605 in 2019-20. The patents filed for by the 193 labs account for around 2 percent of the total patents filed within India and outside India by Indian residents. In terms of patents granted, the 193 labs accounted for around 8 percent of the total patents granted within India and outside India to residents in India.
• A total of 1513 new products and 1480 new services were introduced in the period under consideration. Of the 193 labs, there were 46 labs that did not introduce a single new product or service in any of the three years.
• The labs earned over Rs 5300 Cr over the three year period, with the main contribution coming from earnings through consultancy fees. The earnings through consultancy fees through non-government is however driven by a small number of labs that are also engaged in providing services to specific sectors like manufacturing, infrastructure and healthcare whereas the government consultancy earnings are driven by sectors such as electronics and infrastructure among others. Earning from commercialization (2019-20) was Rs 31 crores from government sources and Rs 36 crores from no- government sources. Extra mural funding from government sources was Rs 3959 crores from government sources and  Rs 259 crores from non-government sources.

The labs reported 1192 technologies in 2019-20 alone as TRL 5 and above targeted towards SDGs. Their  meaning is not clear to me.

Micro level data

Volume II has lab level data, two taken for illustration.

CEERI

Engineering is the bugbear of CSIR labs. This lab in electronics and statistics for 10 crore spend in 2019-20.

• number of patented filed- 0
• number of patents licensed out-0
• contribution to standards , regulation-0
• new products/ services introduced-0.23
• earnings from government sources- 0.02
• earnings from non- government sources-0.14

Institute of Nano Science and Technology

Some labs are always in the news, riding the hype curve.

• Number of PhDs, Masters and Graduate degrees awarded by the lab or awarded through collaboration with a University (per 100 scientific staff)- 13.92
• Whether the PhDs have been examined by one or more foreign assessors as an organisation policy- NIL
• Number of national awards and recognitions and fellowships received by members of the lab (per 100 scientific staff) -0
• Number of international awards and recognitions and fellowships received by members of the lab (per 100 scientific staff)-0
• Number of publications in quality peer reviewed journals (per 100 scientific staff-115
• Number of citations received by papers published in the preceding three calendar years (per 100 scientific staff)-1690
• Percentage of publications in top 10% journals-8.33
• Number of commissioned technology development/ design/project reports prepared (per 100 scientific staff)-0
• Number of IPRs filed (per Rs.10 Cr spent)-0.47

Recommendations

The present study reveals that there has been an increase in international technology transfers from14 in 2017-18 to 20 in 2019-20, but a gradual decline in the numbers of domestic technology transfers, from 636 in 2017-18 to 613 in 2019-20.

• Allocation of certain financial resources to all labs which can be mobilized additionally for translational research, pilot plant trials and scale-up. of the technologies developed in the labs for their improvement in ‘Technology Readiness Levels’. 
• In order to encourage the scientists to enhance the volume and value of IPRs and subsequent technology transfer, it may be useful to have provisions for definitive career interventions like financial incentives (cash awards, additional increments etc.) and preferential promotional rules.

Draft paper on national policy for the medical devices- reduce imports from 80% to 30% in next 10 years.

 

The department of pharmaceuticals (DoP) has released a draft paper on national policy for the medical devices, inviting feedback and remarks of the industry and stakeholders, till the 25 March. The efforts of the government is to reduce import dependence from 80% to below 30% in next 10 years and ensure self-reliance quotient of 80% in Med-Tech by ensuring Make in India with SMART milestones.The report envisaged that by 2047, 

1. India will be one amongst Top 5 Global manufacturing hubs in terms of value and technology for Medical Devices. 
2. India will be home to 25 MedTech $Bn companies and home & originator to 25 high end futuristic technologies in MedTech. 
3. India will emerge as Champion in critical components, cancer diagnostics, medical imaging, ultrasonic scans, molecular imaging, & PCR technologies .India will achieve 10-12% of Global Market Share of Medical Devices Sector to arrive at a $100-300 Bn industry.
4. India will have about 50 Medical Devices Clusters across India for faster clinical testing of Medical Devices to boost product development and innovation.

The Government has allowed 100% foreign direct investments (FDI) in medical devices sector while prescribing that domestically sourced components must contribute to 25-50 per cent of the cost of medical devices to qualify for public tenders and also has notified 135 in-vitro diagnostic medical devices and 19 medical devices where there is sufficient local capacity and local competition available in the country.

Recognizing the need for higher levels of investments for the creation of testing and laboratory facilities, the sub-scheme “Assistance to Medical Device Industry for Common Facility Centre” has been revised and renamed as “Promotion of Medical Device Parks” which has been approved by the Government of India on 20th March 2020. The parks will provide common testing and laboratory facilities/centre at one place reducing the manufacturing cost significantly and will help in creating a robust ecosystem for medical device manufacturing in the country. The total financial outlay of the scheme is ₹ 400 crore and the maximum assistance under the scheme for one Medical Device Park would be limited to ₹ 100 crore. The model is Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone, India’s first exclusive medical device manufacturing park result of MoU signed between the state government and Association of Indian Medical Devices Industry (AiMeD), the Foundation Stone of the 270-acre exclusive manufacturing park was laid on August 19, 2016 at Nadupur village of Pedda Gantyada Mandal in Vishakhapatnam by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Mr Chandrababu Naidu.

Draft `India Data Accessibility and Use’ policy 2022

The draft India Data Accessibility and Use Policy was published on MeitY website on February 21, 2022. Since its publication, MeitY has been receiving several comments and suggestions on the draft policy. It’s also observed that there is a need to bring in some more clarity with regard to some of the clauses in the draft policy so that the objectives of the Data Accessibility policy to enable better services is made amply clear. These clauses will be finalized after getting inputs of stakeholders in the consultation process Accordingly the draft policy document for consultations is being shared here.

The inputs/feedback may be sent to Ms. Kavita Bhatia, Scientist F at the email kbhatia[at]gov[dot]in and pmu [dot] etech [at] meity [dot] gov [dot]in.

The last date of submission for inputs/feedback is March 18, 2022.

NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

To cater next-generation digital manufacturing and mitigate immediate disabilities of local industries, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister of Electronics & Information Technology, Communications & Railways and Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship released “National Strategy on Additive Manufacturing” on 24th February 2022.

Main recommendation was establishment of National Additive Manufacturing Centre and strengthening technology leadership.

Innovation Strategy- India and UK: Wish list Vs Pragmatism

The draft Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy, 2020 is a non-starter as a policy on innovation and went into a limbo. When authorities try to give a new avatar the team can benefit from UK policy paper `UK Innovation Strategy: leading the future by creating it'

A recap of India's draft:

Broad vision- To double the number of Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) researchers, Gross Dimestic Expenditture on R&D (GERD) and private sector contribution to the GERD every 5 years. Open Data Policy for Publicly Funded Research: All data used in and generated from public-funded research will be available to everyone (larger scientific community and public) under FAIR3 (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) terms. Wherever applicable, exceptions will be made on grounds of privacy, national security and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). Transforming existing R&D institutions to research universities. This will foster better linkages between research and education and also enable effective utilization of research infrastructure. Foreign MultiNational Companies (MNCs): Foreign MNCs play an integral role in boosting India’s economy. To gainfully measure and assess the contributions made by foreign MNCs in the STI financing landscape, innovative methods to capture them will be developed. Boosting fiscal incentives for industries investing in STI through incremental R&D based tax incentives, tax credit for investing in facilities for commercialization, tax holidays, tax waivers, target-based tax incentive for specific domains, tax deduction, expatriate tax regimes, remodelling of patent box regime etc. There will be a reassessment of the possibility of reviving weighted deduction provisions (of expenditure incurred on in-house R&D).Flexible mechanism for supplier development programmes for public procurement in all sectors (especially earmarked for Small & Medium Enterprises - SMEs and Start-ups).Reassessment of regulatory control on STI landscape to promote innovative enterprises. It is recommended that the Central Government re-examine and widen the scope of R&D expenditure. Further, the government may determine the right mix of loan, equity and grants to assist Indian industries for technology up-gradation and commercialization. Further, to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in STI, reduction in corporate tax rates for foreign MNCs, fast track clearances, easing land acquisitions, adequate means for incorporating FDI etc. will be explored on a need basis. To undertake efficient governing mechanisms for the STI funding landscape, a national STI Financing Authority will be created.Modification/waiver of General Financial Rules, for large scale mission mode programmes and projects of national importance will be explored. A new model for funding, implementation and monitoring of such programmes will be developed, either as an overarching mechanism or through obtaining cabinet approvals in respect of individual programmes. In addition, certain GFRs will be required to be amended for funding of R&D projects to facilitate ease of doing research.

Summery: A great compilation of wish list. There is something for every stakeholder.  STI Financing Authority , modification/ waiver of GFR are radical proposals in Indian context.

UK Policy paper focus is comparitively narrow, pragmatic and more likely will be acted upon.  They talk of innovation by business which is diffrent from business innovation , favouraite of Unicorns.

Vision is for the UK to be a global hub for innovation. Strategy set out plans against 4 key pillars, which will support the achievement of that vision:

• Pillar 1: Unleashing business – we will fuel businesses who want to innovate
• Pillar 2: People - we will make the UK the most exciting place for innovation talent
• Pillar 3: Institutions and places - we will ensure our research, development and innovation institutions serve the needs of businesses and places across the UK
• Pillar 4: Missions and technologies – we will stimulate innovation to tackle major challenges faced by the UK and the world and drive capability in key technologies

Indian draft is for ease of doing research by government funded researchers of government funded institutes where as thrust of UK policy paper is on innovation by commercial enterprises.

Innovation-public policy interface

Learning from the book: 

Impact of public policy instruments on supply and demand of innovation are conditioned by competition and contagion conditions the firms face. How much competition is appropriate to create an an optimal mix of invention, innovation and diffusion? One study quoted by the author says that an increase in competition leads to a significant increase in R&D investment by `neck and neck’ firms i.e firms that operate at the same technological level.However, increased competition decreases R&D investments by firms that are lagging behind, in particular if the time horizon is short. This explains Indian firms strong R&D in Pharma and weak R&D in electronic sector. Large technology gap discourages innovation efforts in the presence of import based competition.

The contagion effect (imitation potential) increases with large pools (supply) of knowledge to learn from and firms may undertake technological activity to benefit from these contagion effects. Innovative regions like Silicon valley create both competition and contagion effects. Firms in clusters often get locked into specific products and technologies and policies aim at bringing technological dynamism with global value chains. Location of MNC R&D centers in India is not only used for its low cost of operation but also for developing technologies for markets like India. Both for performing R&D and for solving research problems these MNC R&D centres seek more support from their global business units than local units thereby limiting knowledge spill over and contagion effect.

The challenge for the policymakers in the globalized world of open and distributed knowledge networks is the need to identify a policy package that can simultaneously facilitate international linkages for accessing knowledge, incentivize domestic intramural R&D to build absorptive as well as inventive capacity and help create domestic networks for knowledge accumulation and diffusion.

This book by eminent author provides theological inputs and conceptual clarity on contents of my book on `Demand side innovation policy'

UK Innovation Strategy- call of surge in Business led Innovation.

UK Government in its policy document UK Innovation Strategy: leading the future by creating it, terms innovation  as the “lifeblood of business” and sees procurement as a vital component of innovation. The document calls for surge in Buisness led Innovation with focus on public procurement, regulations and standards.

Read the strategy paper to understand how UK is planning to survive divorce from EU.

India has many innovations and they are not jugaad.

Jugaad creations fascinated media, nationalists took affront at India's innovation / patent ranking with the argument that innovations do exist in plenty only they are missed out , while consultants floated a new business line of jugaad/ frugal innovation model. While happy with positive references to India many cautioned on Irrational exuberance on innovation front. Japan developed Technology Absorption model, Korea had Creative Imitaion and China-Secondary innovations as articulated models to move up in the value chain. Once it became clear India needs systematic innovation , India adopted Demand side innovation framework.

Author, Journalist, Dinesh Sharma also takes the view that jugaad is not innovation. He lists 100 innovations, including those in Governance, Public Utilities and Law. In digital age we will be seeing many more innovations in this space.

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