Report card (2015-2020) of PRISM

 PRISM is an upgraded version implemented by DSIR.

Report:  https://www.dsir.gov.in/sites/default/files/2023-09/Impact_Study_Report_2015-2020h.pdf

 

Book Review: Indian Innovators by Akshat Agrawal

Author Akshat Agrawal is a product of IIT Delhi and currently Director at Alpha Beta Classes, a startup in Education domain. This is a story of 20 Indian Innovators written in simple narrative form with no pretension of discovering any unique Indian innovation methodology. The innovators covered are:

Anirudha Sharma formed a team in the first year of engineering at RTU, worked on touch user interface technology and received first bout of appreciation when their team `Team Sparsh’ won first prize in Hardware Design competition at BITS Pilani. The spark came to Hemanth Satyanarayana while doing MS at SUNY, Buffalo after graduation from IITM. He developed `Trail room using Augmented Reaity’, a technology that lets you try clothes digitally without having to wear them. More familiar to me is long journey of Mrinmayee Bhushan who successfully developed, patented and commercialized Romantaque, hair growth inhibitor. Met the 3Nethra team of professionals at CIIE for Piramal awards and very comfortable to interact with a startup team not composed of teens. MittiCool innovator Mansukhbhai was a celebrity among grass root innovators scouted and supported by National Innovation Foundation (NIF). Met many of them at Anil Gupta’s workshop in Ahmedabad. TePP supported many innovators like Artin Dynmics incubated at Technopark, Trivendrum. Chandrasekhar Nair managed the most successful TePP Outreach Center. Research spin-offs are a rarity in India and Dr Nitin Joshi stands out for pursuing research on nanoparticle based targeted drug delivery into an innovation. Anirudha Sharma and Prateek Bumb started their entrepreneurial journey with a business plan for technology to capture CO2 from industrial flue gas at IDEAS 2008 , became part of Indian Youth Delegation to COP15 by 2009. India Innovation Initiative (i3) inspired many innovators like Priyanka Sharma, inventor of disposable plastic biochip, Pratik Mahapatra who developed a process to kae paper from weeds growing unchecked in lakes. Sachidanand Swami from IITD working on touch tables is waiting for the big break. Sriram Kannan working on location tracking without GPS, Abjijit Joshi developing implantable biosensor for diabetes monitoring, Ganesh interacting with virtual 3D objects, Ahmad Khan constructing roads plastic waste. DST-Lockheed Martin India Innovation Growth Programm also supported many innovators like CareMother. Stanford Biodesign Fellowshop program led  innovators like Chinmay Deothar to develop and license laproscopic sugerey instrument to US firm. Arunachalam with development of low cost sanitary pad making machine created opened a huge market for a consumer product. Startup Village has many success stories and Innoz of Deepak Ravindran is one such a one. Prof Amarnath at IITB groomed many startups and Ankit Mehta of IdeaForge is one such a story.

The Innovators need to be celebrated as builders of new India, designing products for make In India. The organizations that supported these innovators at early stage also need a brief mention and for that reason I highlighted the small but significant role played by govt funding agencies and mentors.

TePP supported Indian startup Nualgi wins 2015 Climate CoLab awards

In March 2015, the Climate CoLab opened 15 contests on key challenges the world is facing as we confront climate change.Nearly 400 proposals were submitted and evaluated by the Judges, who then selected 109 Semi-Finalists. The authors had a chance to revise their proposals with the Judges' feedback before entering a second round of evaluation, where 58 proposals were selected as Finalists and opened for public voting.  Over August and September, the Climate CoLab community grew to over 45,000 members and cast over 11,000 votes to select the contests' Popular Choice winners.

Nualgi invented by Sampathkumar of Bangalore and supported by DSIR under TePP was selected as winner under Energy-Water Nexus and also under Waste Management.

Indian Innovator Sampath kumar seeks donation on Kickstarter for a research project in Mississippi state university aimed at improving water condition in lakes.

Nualgi is a patented nano-scale nutrient formula in the size range of 5-100 nanometers. At this scale, elements react differently with each other, remain suspended longer, disperse easily across the water column, and are therefore “bio-available” to marine organisms.The liquid additive contains 12 essential nutrients in a nano silica base that acts as a nutrient and a carrier. These nutrients are specifically chosen to stimulate diatom growth in the water column.

Diatoms (micro algae) produce 30-50% of food in aquatic ecosystems.

They release O2 and consume CO2, dramatically increasing dissolved oxygen levels. This helps aerobic bacteria break down organic matter (pollution) and Diatoms also happen to be the favorite food for Zooplankton. In turn Zooplankton are the primary food for fish, crustaceans, and other organisms. 
By boosting Diatoms, Nualgi empowers the natural food chain at the source!
The product and process was invented by Sampath Kumar in India and supported under TePP.

Now Nulgi America is planning to carry out experiments in Mississippi state university to review Nualgi’s safety and effectiveness at reducing water pollution to improve water conditions in a commercial aquaculture setting.
Donate today. 

GFR (General Finance Rules) and Innovation Promotion

In 2007 World Bank released a report `Unleashing INDIA’S Innovation’ and question thus arose;  where is the `leash’?  Is it low budget or structural holes or mind set?

It is common refrain to say that only 1 in 8 of innovations make money in the market. For government departments, the accounting treatment of failed innovations is governed by the rule book GFR. Unfortunately despite a series of announcements including INDIA INNOVATION DECADE, the GFR has not been updated to stimulate risk investment by Government. The GFR condition amended in 2005 says:

Ministries or Departments of Government sponsor projects or schemes to be undertaken by Universities, Indian Institutes of Technology and other similar autonomous organizations such as ICAR, CSIR, ICMR,etc., the results from which are expected to be in national interest. Normally the entire expenditure on such projects or schemes including capital expenditure, is funded by the Ministry or Department. The funds released for such projects or schemes in one or more installments are not treated as grants-in aid in the books of the implementing agency. Apart from the requirement of submission of technical and financial reports on completion of the project or scheme, a stipulation should be made in such cases that the ownership in the physical and intellectual assets created or acquired out of such funds shall vest in the sponsor.

R&D Grants to Industry

There is no provision or bar on funding R&D projects or innovations by commercial organisations. History of R&D funding will thro light on this.

TAAS

DSIR was the first to provide R&D grants to Industry under TAAS (Technology Absorption and Adaptation Scheme). This is influenced by the Japanese Model, where initial technology was imported, absorbed and improved. MITI moulded the program in Japan, the Indian version TAAI taken up by DGTD was resisted by industry due to conditions on PMP (Phased Manufacturing Programme) to improve local content during the initial 5 years of license. To motivate industry to take up technology absorption , DSIR came up with TAAS and R&D grants were given to over 30 Public Sector Firms. GFR does not differentiate between Public Sector or Private sector and this decision to restrict funding to Public sector was primarily to play safe.

PATSER

With liberalization and globalization, the focus shifted to new product development. The literature is supportive of government initiatives to support commercial firms at pre-commercial stage of R&D and WTO also approved this subsidy. DSIR started PATSER as conditional and matching grants scheme, attracting private capital to R&D and at the same time not penalizing them for R&D failures. More than 150 R&D projects were supported under this program and majority of the executing agencies were private firms developing proprietary technology. Similar programs taken up by TIFAC, DOE ran into rough weather as they were loan schemes with no provision to write off failed Research.

TePP

New century shifted focus again , this time to creativity, innovation and incubation. New ground was covered under TePP as network program with slots to support idea at different stages. Read: PPT on Freedom to perform in Government-case of TePP . 

Is GFR the leash that confined India to a narrow circle of achievements?

• ·     Under the same GFR, DSIR started TePP and PATSER programs giving grants to commercial firms for R&D at pre-commercial stage.
• ·         Under the same GFR, TDB started giving time much larger amounts to commercial firms as soft loans at Commercial stage.
• ·        Under the same GFR, TePP started giving small but significant grants direct to innovators for proving their novel ideas at concept stage.
• ·         The amount spent by Government of India on private R&D and Innovation is less than the R&D cess collected from Industry for technology transfer.
• ·         The grant amount is a tiny fraction of revenue foregone (Rs 6330 crores) by Government by way of fiscal incentives ( Deduction/weighted deduction for expenditure on scientific research (section 35 (1), (2AA) &(2AB))

·      It is good if GFR is amended to keep with the times, even otherwise the precedents created should form the base to charge ahead with conviction..

From TePP to IPO: Case of MobMe Wireless

TePP suported Sanjay Vijyakumar when he was a student. Now the start-up promoted by him MobMe Wireless is going public with initial IPOm making it the first for a TePP innovator to reach this landmark. It will be the first IT company to be listed in NSE SME Excahnge.
Read more:

Auto -distractor innovation: Rice University Vs Prasad Kulakarni

Undergraduate students of Rice university developed Linear Distractor LinDi to automate the process of lengthening children bone. It is an innovation of great importance and the students have done a great job. This takes me back to Prasad Naryan Kulkarni innovation `Auto- Distractor' supported under TePP, the first project to be supported  under both Phase-1 and Phase-II. This innovation was covered widely in Indian press and in my article `The Bottom of Pyramid Innovations' .  Hope the students of Rice university are aware of Indian innovation.

AVAZ from Invention Lab, Chennai

Very happy to read about this TePP facilitated innovation in `The Better India'. Dr Gangi Reddy as TUC coordinator connected the innovator Ajit Narayanan to TePP. wish the startup all success. It is another great story from Better India- read on

Freedom to Perform in Government- case of TePP

I worked in Government for 19 years and an equivalant period in commercial firms before that- in small scale firm, in Tata firm and in Public Sector Undertaking. Is the popular impression that nothing (new/ significant) can be done in government correct? Read my personal account in this PPT:
http://www.slideshare.net/indiainvents/freedom-to-perform-in-government-case-of-tepp

Bi Box from start up evobi

Bi-Box is a small box with an Electronic Brain which can be connected to various electronic devices or toys and instructed to behave the way you want it to. It is supported under TePP. This start-up figures among the ten promising Indian companies by Global Thought.

Shaping the Future- Semi Finalists

For schedule of Semi finals in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai and also list of semi finalists see:

http://specials.msn.co.in/sp09/shapingyourfuture/semifinalists.asp

TePP Innovator SS Dutta gets first prize in India Innovation Initiative 2009

Results of India Innovation Initiative 2009 results were announced on 27th October 2009. the winner is Sankha subhra Dutta of Japaiguri, who with TePP support is developing light duty variable displacement compressor for small car airconditioining . Indian Patent Application No: 613/KOL/2009 dated 13/04/2009.

kafgon novel herbal remedy for cough

As she is getting older, Mrs Raj Katyal of Jalandhar gets concerned about health- of others. She inherited traditional knowledge for herbal treatment of several common problems like cough from her forefathers and did not want the knowledge to disappear with her. After a period of hesitation, she subjected her work to validation by scientific community. The result is scientifically validated unique herbal product , tested at NIPER , funded under TePP of DSIR and released in market by Synkrom Healthcare.
Kafgaon, patented and registered under Trade Mark contains a unique mixture of 5 herbs- Acorus calamus (vach), Alpina galanga (Kulanjan), Psoralea corylifolia (Bavchi), Piper nigrum (Kaali Mirch) and Piper longum (Pippli).

Returns for `Freedom to Fail' Innovators grant

I had an opportunity to articulate my views on this subject at APIN conference on 6th August. What returns are expected for a government program like TePP? Government is an investor like angel investor, VC firm, Bank. Unlike those financial instruments, TePP gives money as grant, i.e free money. Also the beneficiary retains all rights on IP and technology commercialisation.

Is picking winners the aim of the program? Obviously not. There are other programs targeting Indian innovations for showcasing in global market.

TePP aims to cover risks so that more and more innovators actually take the risk.Then the question is -can mindset of millions be changed by providing grants to hundreds. This addresses the thin line dividing `private good' and `public good'. If innovators benefit from liberal government grant and keep all benefit to themselves, the grant works like a subsidy to few. On the other hand, if supported innovators, inspire and motivate many others, then there will be `public good' in the form of reduced risk aversion. How can that be done? Tipping point, viral impact are come of the concepts that show the way.

Hundreds of supported innovators can influence the minds of millions if they are capable, committed and communicative.

From my experience, I have found the last is the most important factor. The beneficiaries need to talk about their innovation, the TePP program and supportive eco-system of the nation to one and all, at all times. They need to be ambassadors of good will for government.

We cannot build a national eco-system in an environment characterised by negative thought and cynical views of government. Let us learn the art of paying back to society.

TePP RPI 2-HDVSL based printing stack

TePP on behalf of a start-up invites proposals from innovators to Develop a low cost HDVSL based printing stack. The selected Innovator will be licensed HDVSL stack. Initially a printing shop or lab version or enterprise version should be made to avoid tooling cost. Once perfected, the technology can be taken to make really compact printers which can be carried in laptop bags and battery powered.

Innovators interested in developing this application based on a disruptive technology may write giving details of their relevant capabilities, action plan, budget ,time frame etc. For technical

details on HDVSL stack, contact

shm.cheekotel@gmail.com, shm.cheekotel@gmail.com

Innovations for Small Business

Technology obsolescence coupled with economic recession is taking heavy toll of small technology ventures. TePP can help them in 2 ways:

1. If the promoter is innovative, he/ she can avail TePP funds to come with new designs.
2. If the business owner is clear only about the problem , then he/she can invite proposals from independent innovators. That is what large companies from P&G to Google do. TePP Open innovation portal facilitates this outsourcing of R&D.
Any takers?

TePP Open Innovation Network: TePP/002/2009

TePP on behalf of CSIR invites proposals from innovators interested in developing derivative products for different applications using Solakshaw drive train as technology platform. The proposal invited is for Prototype development for products other than passenger carrying rickshaw. Financial support will be extended to selected innovators under TePP Phase-1 norms. Details of TePP are available on this portal and also on DSIR web site www.dsir.gov.in . The maximum support permissible under TePP phase-1 is Rs15 lakhs. The support can be utilized for development and manufacture of prototypes for testing at CMERI.

Innovators interested may submit proposal, initially as soft copy to asrao@nic.in. The proposal should highlight innovative merit along with application as per prescribed TePP Phase I TPF application format.

TePP Open Innovation Network: Request TePP/001/2009

TePP on behalf of CSIR invites proposals from entrepreneurs interested in taking license for manufacture and supply of Solakshaws (Electrical rickshaw with solar charging facility) in different part of the country. The proposal invited is for Business Delivery Innovation for rapid product diffusion. Financial support will be extended to selected entrepreneurs under TePP Phase-11 norms.The maximum support permissible under TePP phase-11 is Rs 45 lakhs or 50% of approved project cost which ever is lower. The support can be utilized for implementation of innovative delivery model on pilot scale. Entrepreneurs interested may submit proposal, initially as soft copy to asrao@nic.in. The proposal should include Business Plan along with application as per prescribed TePP Phase II S3T application format.

A3 Remote Monitoring Technologies

On the occasion of Techfest, TOI, Mumbai carried an article on Remote Patient Monitoring technology developed by Prof Uday Desai of IIT Mumbai with support under TePP
Read article :
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JTS8yMDA5LzAxLzI1I0FyMDAyMDA=&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

2008 Year of Unknown Innovator Part4

This is story of Sanjay Vijay Kumar.

I belong to a middle class family hailing from the sleepy town of Trivandrum in God's Own Country Kerala. My entire childhood was at Jesuit Run Loyola School at Trivandrum where I spend 13 formative years of my life. This is where I found best of the friends in the same wave lengths, who now accompany me as I start an entrepreneurial journey. Creative Freedom at Loyola was very high and in 9th standard, we launched a school news paper christened - The Times of Loyola. Being an avid sport enthusiast, I also captained the school Basketball team and Played State Level Basketball and excelled in the sport that gained me an admission at Sports Authority of India (SAI) training center to take up professional basketball. While in fifth semester in college, we did a direct marketing initiative for BPL Mobile that earned us 8lacs in 3 months. That formed the seed capital to build up a company even while in college.

MobME - A TePP funded company is today one of India's leading startups and one amongst the many startups that will lead to a day when the sun will rise to see the Dawn of a Silicon Coast in India. MobME has a slew of Innovative Products ranging from SMS to Voice to a Media Factory churning out Mobile Content. The company is focused on developing its Mobile Content Sharing Platform christened Mobshare. Mobshare is the leading and preferred platform by leading Mobile operators, Media Companies and Marketing agencies for Mobile Community, Photo and Video Sharing Solutions.

TePP is an amazing project that gives wings to dreams. The Seed Capital is what is always lacking in entrepreneur eco-system and in most cases - the amount of funds required is between 5 to 10 lacs where you need capital to take an idea into a pilot or test stage. Where Venture Capitalists shy away - TePP is a shining example of the vision of the scientific community in India who realized this gap and thus spurring Innovation across the country. Thinking out of the box – innovation became the bread and butter of MobME and that brought in Industry recognition from leading Organizations as well as National and International Media.