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.

CSIR- Dehradun Declaration

DEHRADUN DECLARATION’ has been adopted at the end of two day conference of CSIR Directors held at CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum in Dehradun. Highlights:

•  CSIR labs will develop technologies for National missions like Swachh Bharat, Swasth Bharat, Skill India, Smart Cities, Digital India, Namami Ganga. 
• Each laboratory would also develop at least one technology in strategic sector for India. 
• (CSIR) to come up with at least 12 cutting edge technologies which are to be commercialized every year.

CSIR-TKDL misleading with its claim that they stopped an European patent -on a medicinal composition containing turmeric, pine bark and green tea for treating hair loss.

Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India issued a press statement with title`India Foils UK Company’s Bid to Patent Use of Turmeric, Pine Bark & Tea for Treating Hair Loss'. The Indian press dutifully carried this news item as yet another instance of crooked white man stealing Indian traditional knowledge. And few in India analysed the European patent claims to check this claim of CSIR-TKDL.
Darren Smyth in his blog IPKat traced the patent in dispute and anaysed the claim(s) in detail. The conclusion:

• Caim 1 is achieving an electrostatic effect in the interaction of hair building solids with hair and there is no reference to turmeric, pine bark and green tea.
• About the third party observations, it was stated:The comments developed in this [the third party observations] filing concern mainly the subject-matter of original claims 10, 11 and 12, which relate to the introduction of pharmacologically active ingredients. The third-party observation has been taken into account.
• From this it can be seen that they played no part in the examination at all.  The examination report was not responded to, and the application has now lapsed.
• So the statement by the Indian Ministry of Science and Technology is pretty much untrue - there was not in any real sense an attempt to "patent" use of "turmeric, pine bark and green tea for treating hair loss", and nothing that the TKDL did had any influence on the examination so India has not "foiled" the attempt to get a patent anyway.  Any announcement is in any case premature, since the applicant can still file a response and revive the application using "further processing" up to 9 September 2015.

Technology Commercialization- I Corps Teams

Government funding agencies and research organisations have thousands of technologies, declared as ready for transfer to industry but the off-take is minuscule. Similar problem exists in other countries too and they addressed the problem in different ways. The experience of USA in promoting I-Corp Teams is interesting.
The objective is to identify NSF-funded researchers who will receive additional support - in the form of mentoring and funding - to accelerate innovation that can attract subsequent third-party funding. The purpose of the NSF I-Corps Teams grant is to give the project team access to resources to help determine the readiness to transition technology developed by previously-funded or currently-funded NSF projects. The outcomes of I-Corps Teams projects will be threefold: 
1) a clear go or no go decision regarding viability of products and services,
 2) should the decision be to move the effort forward, a transition plan for those projects to move forward, and 
3) a technology demonstration for potential partners.
What is importance of supplementary grant?
The tendency of researchers is to close the project, declare it as success and apply for grant to next project. There is little economic or academic interest in continuing work on so called completed project till clear go/ no-go decision is taken. CSIR tried this model but results were not satisfactory mainly due to limitation of taking all CSIR scientists into the team. PI not interested,  Entrepreneurial Lead and Mentors are in short supply. 
It is time to take up similar program in right earnest. Even if this does not lead to dramatic raise in license, the junk (from commercialization perspective) can be cleared.

Prof Samir K Brahmachari selected for Nayudamma award for the year 2010

This year's award goes to Prof Brahmachari, DG, CSIR and Secretary DSIR.  Presentation planned at Nayudamma Centre for Development Alternatives, Nellore on 5th January 2011. Citation about Nayudamma on IDRC web page:

The Nayudamma Technology Bank provides easy access and information to technologies supported by IDRC — technologies from the South for the South. This collection, which provides contact names for all the technologies described, is a way of sharing and updating information on technological advancements for international development. 

The technology bank has been named in honour of the late Dr Yelavarthy Nayudamma, a man who dedicated his life to demonstrating how science and technology can and should be used for human benefit. Dr. Nayudamma, who joined the IDRC Board of Governors in 1981, lost his life in the tragic Air India disaster in 1985. 

Dr Nayudamma deeply believed in the concept of "technologies for humanity" and the need to "bring modern science to bear upon the problems and needs of the rural poor." Though internationally recognized as an organic chemist, specializing in the complex polyphenol-protein interactions upon which leather manufacture is based (in 1965 he received the K.G. Naik Gold Medal for his research), Dr Nayudamma was ultimately a practical technologist. As director of the Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) in Madras from 1958 to 1971, Dr Nayudamma
 
Dr Nayudamma's accomplishments are numerous and varied. It is out of admiration for his vision and in honour of his memory that IDRC has named this bank of technologies for development the Nayudamma Technology Bank. made important contributions to the development of India's leather industry. In 1971, he became director of the Committee on Science and Technology in Developing Countries ( COSTED ), spearheading a movement for the appropriate integration of traditional and emerging technologies. 

Miner Tracking system from CIMFR

Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIMFR), Dhanbad, India with funding from Department of Information Technology (DIT), developed following wireless technologies first time in India:
(i) Miners’ tracking system,
(ii) Proximity warning system,
(iii) System for preventing vehicle collisions,
(iv) Route tracing system for opencast transport vehicles,
(v) System for providing warning signals when miner entering the unsafe area,
(vi) Underground gas monitoring system, and
(v) Message communication system.
The core system component is ZigBee-compliant active Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) device.
Contact for details and technology transfer:

Dr. L.K. Bandyopadhyay,

Scientist G,

Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research,

Barwa Road, Dhanbad – 826015, Jharkhand, India,

Telefax: +91-326-2296045,

Mob.: 09431145241

E-mail: laxmikb@yahoo.com

New model of M tech and PhD programs from CSIR

To meet the shortage of researchers , primarily in engineering, CSIR has taken an initiative to start its own training program. The 2 year post graduate program with 8 capsules has been announced. More are on the cards. The rational for CSIR getting into this space is that very few bright engineering students enroll for M Tech and PhD programs those few would either leave country or join MNC R&D centers. Very few IITians joined CSIR in the last decade. The pacakge offered by CSIR is attractive- they get paid during training and absorbed in CSIR after training. Scientists of CSIR labs like CEERI have been very active in supporting academeic activity and will now take additional responsibility. The pilot run attracted good response from students. Details:
http://www.csir.res.in/CSIR/csirpgrp/pgrtpe.htm

Permitting researchers to own equity stake in spin-offs without leaving job

Following the approval of cabinet, DSIR has released formal circular on this subject. See:
http://www.dsir.gov.in/circulars/knowledge_equity_om_25may2009.pdf

For researcher start-ups, funds are also available under TePP. Several faculty from IISc and IIT Mumbai have taken the plunge. Is it now the turn of CSIR scientists??

Alkaneutri- waste water treatment technology

Alkaneutri is one of the waste water treatment technologies available for transfer by IGIB, a constituent of CSIR labs. Alkaneutre, a novel product, is a consortium of bacteria for neutralization of alkaline waste-water. At present, the alkaline waste-water is neutralized with acid which is eco-unfriendly, expensive and hazardous. Also, the generation of sodium chloride, a product of acid treatment, further pose problems in biodegradation. The process developed by IGIB completely eliminates the use of chemicals and brings down the pH from 12.0 to 7.5 within a reasonable time. Tests carried out at Coca-Cola,Dasna plant had shown reduction of pH from 11.82 to 7.26.
This technology comes from researcher Dr(Mrs) Ritakumar, a prolific inventor with 59 patents to her credit by year 2007. Parties looking for technologies can contact, Dr Ritakumar , rita@igib.res.in