National Manufacturing Innovation Survey 2021- India

 

The 3-year effort produced 6 reports and a comprehensive overivew is captured in the #NMIS 'Summary for Policymakers'. Download reports: https://lnkd.in/gpa8weDZ

Conclusions:

• Innovation performance (output) lags behind presence of enablers and absence of barriers (input)
• Presence of enablers has greater impact on performance than the absence of barriers
• Innovation is beneficial to business success in manufacturing
• At least 70 percent of the firms are innovation-inactive
• Aspiration for topline growth drives innovation, but it could also be at odds with innovation 
• Activities exclusively focused on innovation correlate to higher innovation success 
• Firms with more than basic innovation capabilities demonstrate higher success in innovation.
•  Basic ecosystem enablers are essential but insufficient on their own to help firms increase their ability to innovate.
• Finance is the most cited barrier to innovation in Indian manufacturing
• Frequencies of innovation barriers differ by region in India

The report recommended  ‘Innovate to Make in India’ as a manufacturing innovation strategy'. The survey findings demonstrate that despite proven business benefits, manufacturing firms showed high-risk aversion and limited entrepreneurial appetite to engage with innovation. Predominantly, it was observed that firms were responding to the immediate demands in the market, instead of competing for new products that are needed to compete in the future. In this context, a long-term manufacturing innovation strategy is critically urgent. Thus, to make innovation a priority for manufacturing firms, a concrete step forward would be to complement the ‘Make in India’ with an “Innovate to Make in India” strategy. This may then include broad based awareness, promotional measures and investment incentives, along with sectoral sub-strategies with concrete innovation targets or roadmaps.

Report: http://www.nstmis-dst.org/NMIS/assets/pdf/Assessment%20of%20Firm-Level%20Innovation%20in%20Indian%20Manufacturing.pdf

India releases Water Body census

 Highlights:

• The photograph of the water bodies along with the latitude and longitude was captured by a mobile app developed for this purpose.  
• 24,24,540 water bodies have been enumerated in the country, out of which 97.1% (23,55,055) are in rural areas and only 2.9% (69,485) are in urban areas. 
• 59.5% (14,42,993) of water bodies are ponds, followed by tanks (15.7%, i.e 3,81,805), reservoirs (12.1%, i.e 2,92,280), Water conservation schemes/percolation tanks/check dams (9.3%, i.e 2,26,217), lakes (0.9%, i.e 22,361) and others (2.5%, i.e 58,884).
• West Bengal has highest number of ponds & reservoirs, whereas Andhra Pradesh has highest number of tanks, Tamil Nadu has highest number of lakes and Maharashtra is the leading state for water conservation scheme. 
• A major proportion of water bodies i.e., 83.7% (20,30,040) are in use whereas remaining 16.3% (3,94,500) are not in use on account of drying up, construction, siltation, destroyed beyond repair, salinity and other reasons. 
• Most of the water bodies are used in pisciculture, followed by irrigation, ground water recharge and domestic/drinking purpose. 

Read the report: https://cdnbbsr.s3waas.gov.in/s3a70dc40477bc2adceef4d2c90f47eb82/uploads/2023/04/2023040672.pdf

Indian Space Policy 2023

 The policy outlines scope for Non Government Entities:

NGEs would be encouraged to: 1. offer national and international space-based communication services, through self-owned or procured or leased GSO/NGSO communication satellites. 2. establish and operate ground facilities for space objects operations, such as TT&C Earth Stations and Satellite Control Centres (SCCs). 3. use Indian Orbital Resources and/or Non-Indian Orbital Resources to establish space objects for communication services over India and outside India. 4. make new ITU filings through the WPC/DOT to acquire Orbital Resources. NGEs are free to make ITU filings through non-Indian administrations also. 5. establish and operate remote sensing satellite systems within and outside India through selfowned or procured or leased satellites. 6. disseminate satellite-based remote sensing data, as well as applications based on such data, in India and/or outside. 7. develop and commercialise technologies and applications for enhancing and augmenting the satellite navigation, communication and remote-sensing developed and provided by the Government. 8. manufacture and operate space transportation systems, including launch vehicles, shuttles, etc., as well as design and develop reusable, recoverable and reconfigurable technologies and systems for space transportation. 9. establish and operate launch infrastructure. 10. develop space situational awareness capabilities for enhancing observation, modelling and analysis. 11. undertake research, innovation and technology development for long-term sustainability of space activities. 12. provide end-to-end services for safe operations and maintenance in space. 13. engage in the commercial recovery of an asteroid resource or a space resource. Any NGE engaged in such process shall be entitled to possess, own, transport, use, and sell any such asteroid resource or space resource obtained in accordance with applicable law, including the international obligations of India. 14. undertake any other IN-SPACe prescribed commercial space activity. 

Source:https://www.isro.gov.in/media_isro/pdf/IndianSpacePolicy2023.pdf

 

Corporate innovation and Board Directors qualification- paper about IITian Directors from India

 Indian industry spending on R&D and Innovation is low. Is risk taking related to Board Directors qualification? If majority of board members have degrees from IITs, does that improve innovation quotient? This paper addresses this issue.

Findings- 

We could infer from this outcome that simply having an IIT-Bachelor’s degree is important. However, to ignite the innovation potential of a firm and put maximum effort towards it, the directors would require a research degree like PhDs. Research degree over IIT-Bachelor’s would unlock those IIT bachelor directors' research mindset and abilities and provide the research aptitude/experience to carry out R&D. 

Read:  https://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/wppdf/2023/wp2023-014.pdf

JUST ASPIRE - Inspiring Story of the Father of Indian Hardware, Ajai Chowdhry

Indian farmers adoption of farming practices to mitigate climate change

 Climate change is adversely affecting the Indian agricultural sector. Farmers’ perceptions of and adaptation to the rapidly changing climatic conditions are considered crucial policy measures to combat these adversities. In this context, the present study systematically reviews the literature on farmers’ perception and adaptation in India, drawing mainly from Scopus and Web of Science. Results show that majority of the Indian farmers have perceived a rise in temperature, erratic and decreased rainfall which is consistent with the meteorological data. Indian farmers seem to have adopted a wide range of adaptation measures that are mostly incremental and systemic. Transformational adaptations in the form of substantial changes in land use, resource and labor allocations, occupational pattern, and cropping systems are also increasingly found to be adopted by farmers. However, the literature does not substantially confirm that farmers’ adaptation measures result from their perception of climate change. Lack of access to sufficient information and adequate credit at the right time, household income, farm size, gender, and resource endowment, among others, frequently influences the adoption of adaptation measures. To avoid maladaptive outcomes and achieve long-term sustainability, the study suggests a need for large-scale investments in the Indian farming sector in general and building farmers’ capacity in particular. In addition, adopting an integrated approach for assessing farmers’ perception of and adaptation to changing climatic conditions and their outcomes is essential for effective policymaking towards achieving food security and farmers’ wellbeing.

Download paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667010022001007

India Government notifies rules on online gaming.

 

These amendments layout a comprehensive framework for Online Gaming Eco-system and also deals with Fact checking related to online content pertaining to Government. These rules address the twin challenges of catalyzing and expanding online gaming innovation and at the same time protecting citizens from illegal betting and wagering online. Rules will be catalyst for expanding innovation, while banning/prohibiting wagering on outcome of games and betting. Rules will ensure that Online games or sites that involve wagering will be banned completely including advertising or any time of presence. Industry participating SROs will be core of the enabling framework which will certify permissible Online games. Stakeholder participative SROs to determine permissible online games; Safety of Gamers including Children to be addressed. Under the Rules, MEITY to also notify agency to factcheck false & misleading information related to Govt business.

Download notification.

RICH Impact report (2022)

 

RICH (Research and Innovation Circle of Hyderabad) is a Government of Telangana initiative and the Hyderabad Science & Technology Cluster under the Office of Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, RICH serves as a strategic convenor, fostering collaboration among academic & research institutions, industry, entrepreneurs, start-ups to enable transformation of scientific research into impactful solutions that generate jobs, wealth and social good. RICH works in three verticals - Food and Agriculture, Lifesciences, and Sustainability. To date, RICH have collaborated with over 250 start-ups and established a network of more than 30 R&D organisations to support start-ups. It is also part of a thriving ecosystem that includes over 75 incubators and accelerators in Telangana.

Download impact report:

https://rich.telangana.gov.in/assets/pdfs/Impact-Reports/RICHC_Impact_Report_Jan_2020-2022.pdf