Filtering Arsenic From Water Wells

The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) announced winners of the 2007 Grainger Challenge Prize for Sustainability. The contest sought innovative solutions for removing arsenic from drinking water that is slowly poisoning tens of millions of people in developing countries. Three prizes will be awarded from a field of more than 70 entries. The prize winners are recognized for the development, in-field verification, and dissemination of effective techniques for reducing arsenic levels in water. The systems must be affordable, reliable, easy to maintain, socially acceptable, and environmentally friendly. All of the winning systems meet or exceed the local government guidelines for arsenic removal and require no electricity.

Abul Hussam, an associate professor in the department of chemistry and biochemistry at George Mason University, Fairfax, Va., will receive the Grainger Challenge Gold Award of $1 million for his SONO filter, a household water treatment system.

Arup K. SenGupta, John E. Greenleaf, Lee M. Blaney, Owen E. Boyd, Arun K. Deb, and the nonprofit organization Water For People will share the Grainger Challenge Silver Award of $200,000 for their community water treatment system.
The Children's Safe Drinking Water Program at Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G), Cincinnati, will receive the Grainger Challenge Bronze Award of $100,000 for the PUR™ Purifier of Water coagulation and flocculation water treatment system.

The Seventh Framework Programme (FP7)

The European Union invited India to participate in its 54 billion Euro science and research programme (Fp7) that will run for five years. Researchers may look into the calls for proposals still open.

India Innovation Growth Program

Lockheed Martin announced establishing the India Innovation Growth Program as a two-year project to expand global export opportunities for new Indian technologies. Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FICCI)and the IC2 Institute at the University of Texas at Austin are partners in this program.Approximately 30 Indian companies will then be selected to participate in an Entrepreneurship Workshop to be delivered by faculty members from The University of Texas at Austin. In the final phase of the program, a select group of six finalist companies will receive more intense business development training.

Indian Semiconductors Association

New policy on Semiconductors is on the anvil. The chip makers are in the news and besides them there are large number of start-ups in this field. Check the members of Indian Semiconductors Association.

Philips Optical Media and. Technology (OM&T)

Moser Baer joins the battle for next generation DVDs by acquiring a majority stake in OM&T, the Netherlands based R&D arm of Philips. The E10 million OM&T specialises in optical media R&D betting on Blue Ray discs. These are the next generation optical discs, which offer higher storage capacities and will replace the current compact discs (CDs) and DVDs.

DuPont Knowledge Center in India

DuPont announced plans to invest over $22.5 million to construct its first research and development center in India. The DuPont Knowledge Center will be located in Hyderabad and is expected to accommodate more than 300 scientists and other employees.Research at the site will focus on “integrated science” – the addition of biology to traditional strengths in chemistry and materials science – to develop the company’s application pipeline in India and other emerging markets. The site initially will focus on molecular biology, bio-informatics and polymer synthesis, with further R&D in the company’s application pipeline across all five of its business growth platforms.

GOOGLE PATENT SEARCH

Inventors and anyone interested in patents will be interested to know
that Google, as part of their apparent effort to patent every piece
of information on the planet, have put the entire corpus of the US
patent database on-line. It is an amazing collection of information.
Moreover, it is an extremely useful tool for inventors as it allows
you to search quickly for patents relevant to your ideas.

You can visit the Google Patent Search tool at
http://www.google.com/patents

Inside India 2007

As global focus shifts to the Indian market, there is a curiosity to understand Indian consumer trends, beyond statistics. This unique 2 day event targets European and American companies interested in gaining a deeper understanding of Indian consumers, from a 'traditions and trends' perspective.

Dates: March 15-16, 2007
Venue: Danish Design Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark
Organised by: Copenhagen Institute of Future Studies

Boston VC delegation in India

Silicon Valley based VCs cemented their relationship with Indian start-ups thru a series of deals. Now come a large delegation of 40 VCs from East coast of USA. TiE, New Delhi coordinated Interaction meet was held on 5th Feb in Delhi. Saurabh Srivasthava , Chairman of IVCA gave an overview of VC funding. Three entrepreneurs who had gone thro the fire, K Ganesh , Deep Kalra and Sanjay Swamy gave a personal account of their happy journey in this track.

CALL FOR BUSINESS PLANS 2007-New Ventures India

Information on New Ventures India is posted in this blog on November 18, 2006. Now communication recd from Anil Kumar Gade about their call for business plans. The first annual call for Business Plans for New Ventures India is open until April 15, 2007. New Ventures India will select at least ten finalists that deliver innovative,environmental benefits and are financially viable.Selected finalists will receive pro bono mentoring to improve the business plan to present at the first annual New Ventures India Investor Forum, October 9-11, 2007, in Mumbai.

Eligible companies Must have Operation in one of the following sectors:
o Agriculture/Organic Products
o Clean Technologies
o Eco-Tourism/Hospitality
o Energy Efficiency/Renewable Energy
o Green Building Materials
o Rapidly Renewable Materials
o Resources,Reuse & Recycling
o Advance Technologies for Water Management
SMEs in the above line and seeking investment between INR 50Lacs to INR 25Crores can apply. For clarifications contact Anil Kumar Gade , email ID: anilkumar.gade@ciionline.org

Consumer Vision Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Consumer Vision Technologies Pvt. Ltd. an IITB -SINE incubated start-up in the news. Read the article`IIT grads make shopping more interactive'.
For more details:

Rohit Nalwade
CEO & Product Architect
Consumer Vision Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
SINE Technology Business Incubator
3rd Floor, CSRE Building
IIT Bombay, Powai
Mumbai 400 076
INDIA
Ph:  +91-22-3257-9854 (DD)
Fax: +91-22-2572-1220
Email: rohit@consumervision.co.in
            rohit.nalwade@iitb.ac.in 

TeCDAC07

This seminar held on 19th & 20th January 2007 presented a glimpse of the current trends in Communication and Information Technology and showcased some of the products and technologies developed by C-DAC(T) in recent years. Some of the commercially attractive technologies on offer include:

a) An intelligent area traffic control system, which adjusts the signal duration in accordance with traffic conditions -in real time. This was proven at Pune.
b) E- nose for Tea industry ( developed by CDAC , Calcutta)
c) Station indicator in AC coaches.

d)Digital hearing aid: The hardware-design group has developed a low-cost DPHA (digital programmable hearing aid) that a user wears on his body. The DPHA-1 device employs a proprietary ASIC and embedded DSP to deliver stable amplification characteristics over a wide dynamic range.CDAC's DPHA-1 features a digital volume control to eliminate the crackling-noise characteristic of conventional hearing aids and incorporates frequency-dependent filtering to match its output to the audiogram of the user. You can reprogram the device in the field with PC-based software to tailor the output to match the user's hearing characteristics over a period of time.Unlike conventional analog hearing aids, you can tailor DPHAs to improve clarity of speech, reduce background noise, and help control unwanted loudness. You can also program them to make automatic adjustments in a variety of settings.

e) Contact less smart card
f) 2500 KVA unified power controller
g) Hybrid electric vehicle
h) Ultrasonic liquid level sensor

Digibee Microsystems

Bangalore based Digibee Microsystem is all set to lunch an Indian made handset for mobiles for both GSM and CDMA networks. Both need taking in IP license from the European consortium and US proprietary firm. The Company's team of 140 has designed the chip, written all the software and prepared the handset design. Manufacture is the next step.

Patent battle: Small Indian Inventor takes on GM

Engineer –Innovator S.GOPALAKRISHNAN bagged the Far Eastern Economic Review Asian Innovation Award gold in 2001 for inventing Electronic catalytic converter. He received patent for " PROCESS AND SYNTHESIZER FOR MOLECULAR ENGINEERING OF MATERIALS" in U.K (Patent No.GB2397782) with 13.03.2002 as date of priority against his PCT application PCT/IN2002/000165/En07.08.2002. The National Phase of U.S Application No. is 10/494453 of PCT/IN02/00165 was filed on 04/30/2004. The inventor is aggrieved that ignoring his date of priority, USPTO granted patent to General Motors (US PATENT NO.7093429 dated August 22,2006) for " REFORMING DIESEL FUEL FOR NOx REDUCTION" .

Observers feel the question is not whether Gopalakrishnan will succeed in invalidating claims of GM as prior art but whether a small innovator like him can afford to fight the legal battle in USA.

COAI partners with Jataayu Software for IM services

Competing and Collaborating at the same time. This time tested method has come to Indian telecom with the GSM operators’ association, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), partnering with Jataayu Software for IM services for its nine member companies.This is probably the first time COAI is striking a deal on behalf of the members. The tie-up will provide subscribers with features such as presence-based address books, email, instant messaging and content-sharing IM buddies for events like ICC World Cup Cricket, says a statement. They also plan to create commercial opportunities such as person-to-person commerce and contextual advertising services.

Source: ContentSutra

World's Best Technologies

Indian Innovators Association signed affiliate agreement with Nine sigma.

As a proud sponsor of the World's Best Technologies Showcase, NineSigma invites you to apply to present your technology at their event in May 15-16, 2007 in Dallas, Texas. The deadline to submit an online application has been extended to feb 9, 2007. Technology submissions have already been received from top universities, federal labs, and technology entrepreneurs based in the US and a number of foreign countries. Each is supported by numerous federal R&D grants or private funding and is now poised for venture capital or commercial licensing. Exhibit space is limited to selected presenting technologies and event sponsors only. There is no cost to apply - for more information, please visit www.wbtshowcase.com

Incubation news from FITT

FITT at IIT, Delhi has been incubating several pomising start-ups like Virtual Wire Technologies, Mechartes Researchers Pvt Ltd,On Yo Mo,Elfsys Embedded Solutons,Sanmotech Labs, Tensor Technologies. Read more about them in FITT newsletter.

TeCDAC 2007

CDAC, Trivendrum is organising a 2 day national seminar ` Technology For Industry, social & economic Empowerment on 19th & 20th January at Trivendrum. Several topics under Industrial electronics, VLSI, Power electronics, Defence, Wireless, Cyber security are listed for discussion. An exhibition of products and technologies recently developed by CDAC recently will also be showcased.

IDEA CONNECTION

IDEA CONNECTION is Internet's idea exchange website. On can post or view inventions, innovations, new products and patents for sale to an exclusive group of international buyers, or buy from an extensive, pre-screened database of quality postings. Links are provided on the Indian Innovators Association web page to post your ideas.
Try it and give us your feedback.

Dr Mashelkar takes over as President of Global Reserach Alliance

Dr RA Mashelkar laid down office as DG of CSIR and Secretary of DSIR on 31st December 2006 and has since taken over as President of Global Research Alliance. In his role as President Dr Mashelkar will, in association with the existing GRA structures, be responsible for the formulation of strategy and implementation, revenue generation, member participation and building the value proposition of the Alliance. Dr Mashelkar’s responsibilities will also include international positioning and relationship building.
He continues to work at NCL as CSIR Bhatnagar fellow and also took over as President of the Institute of Chemical Engineers of UK, President of Indian National Science Academy.

VC Deals In Digital Media In 2006

In the year 2006, Indian digital media business witnessed as many as 26 venture capital deals publicly announced. That has brought in about $175 million in VC money alone in 2006.For a compilation see ContentSutra.

Master resource list from IAMA

Under agreement to share information on resources, Indian Innovators Association hosts Don Kelly' favorite Internet based assistance resources for entrepreneurs/independent inventors. See them at http://www.indianinnovatorsforum.org/resource.htm

Hepta Fluropropane

The Centre for Fire, Explosive, and Environment Safety, a defence laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), has developed a new gas called Hepta Fluropropane for firefighting systems. This gas would soon replace Halon gas, currently used in fire fighting systems for critical infrastructure. The DRDO has passed on the technology for this Halon alternative to Mechvac Fabricators (I) Pvt Ltd, a Mumbai-based engineering firm.
Source: Businessline

Helion Venture Partners

Helion Venture Partners is a stage independent, India-focused venture fund, investing in high growth technology powered businesses. Sanjeev Aggarwal(DEC, i-flex, Daksh fame), Ashish Gupta(Junglee fame) and others raised first fund, of $140m. Investments made-JiGrahak Mobility Solutions, makemytrip.com ,

Siemens Venture Capital (SVC)

Siemens Venture Capital (SVC) is the corporate venture organization for Siemens AG. The goal of SVC is to identify and fund investments in emerging and innovative technologies that will enhance the core business scope of Siemens, particularly in Information and Communications, Medical Solutions, Automation and Control, Power, Automotive Technology and Transportation Systems, and Lighting.To date, SVC has invested 700 million euros in more than 100 start-up companies and 30 venture capital funds mainly in the U.S., Europe and Israel. SVC is located in Germany (Munich), in the U.S. (San José, CA and Boston, MA) and is active through Siemens regional units in Israel, China and India. Siemens Venture Capital is focusing on technologies that overlap with Siemens’ activities: Information Technology, Medical Solutions, Automation and Control, Power, Automotive and Transportation Systems, and Lighting.
(Automation & Control)
Industrial automation and RFID systems
Wireless technologies for industrial applications
Networked machine control
Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES)
IT in industrial automation and building technology
(Transportation)
Automotive electronics and embedded systems
(Power)
Energy management
Alternative power technologies
(Water and waste water treatment technologies)
(Medical)
Imaging Technologies
Molecular imaging and optical imaging
Imaging agents and markers
Diagnostics
Laboratory and Point of care
In-Vitro
Computer aided diagnostics
Medical database and data mining technology
(Horizontal Technologies)
Intelligent sensors and actuators
Nanotechnology
Security technologies

Interested- send yr business plan today .

July Systems Awarded Patent for Rights Managed Peer-to-Peer Distribution of Mobile Content

Founded in 2001 by Ashok Narasimhan & Rajesh TS Reddy , July Systems with headquarters in Santa Clara, CA and Global Product Center in Bangalore offers smart mobile content retailing solutions. It recently secured US patent for `Authorized distribution of digital content over mobile networks'. What is the significance? Heard of `Song catcher' offered by Airtel licensed in from S Korea. It is patents like the one July has got that form the backbone of killer applications.

Chinese companies unveil video players with homegrown DVD technology

Technology Review reports that China's top electronics makers on Wednesday (6th Dec 2006) unveiled dozens of video players made with a homegrown DVD format in a campaign to promote a Chinese alternative to foreign technology. The DVD format, known as EVD, is part of state-backed efforts to create standards for mobile phones and other products and reduce dependence on foreign know-how and possibly reap licensing fees if they are adopted abroad.EVD, or Enhanced Versatile Disc, was first released in 2003, but an effort to promote it was dropped in 2004 after the players failed to catch on with consumers and producers squabbled over licensing fees.Now Chinese electronics makers have revived the campaign on a massive scale, saying they plan to switch completely to EVD by 2008 and stop producing DVD players. Electronics makers, film studios and retailers are promising to sell EVD discs and players.The move also adds a new twist to rivalry between the HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc next-generation video standards being promoted by competing groups of U.S., Japanese and European companies.

This brings to light the structural chasms in Indian road map to develop Products. Standards as strategic tool have little appreciation in our country, Indian global business houses are comfortable with free ride on the standards wagon of Europeans, US and (now) Chinese consortiums.

lensless imaging system

QinetiQ has secured a two-year $5.0m research contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in support of its Large Area Coverage Optical Search While Track and Engage (LACOSTE) programme. This will investigate using first-of-their-kind sensors, like lensless imaging, to provide persistent tactical surveillance and precision tracking capabilities. Another disruptive technology in offing?

Earn by solving technical problems

Do you have solutions for technology problems - many companies are seeking them and paying for promising solutions.Visit

http://www.innocentive.com/
http://www.yourencore.com/jsp/index.html
http://www.ninesigma.net/

Technology Pioneers 2007

Several Indian firms have found place on the list of `Technology Pioneers 2007' prepared by World Economic Forum.
Strand Life Sciences promoted by Dr Vijay Chandru develops algorithms and solutions in the area of bioinformatics. It helps in accelerating the drug discovery process by developing a suite of products for genomics, proteomics, and in silico biology. The products called Oyster include micro arrays, sequence analysis, and structure analysis products.
Drishtee promoted by Mr Satyan Mishra is a rural network for delivering services and related information to the village community through an ICT (information and communication technologies) Center or Information Kiosk. The Kiosks are run by entrepreneurs selected from the villages and have been designed to follow a service-delivery based revenue model.
HelloSoft Inc promoted by Mr. Krishna Yarlagadda is the world’s leading provider of VoIP technologies for wireline and wireless devices. The company enables mass deployment of low-cost, power-efficient, fully-featured multi-mode wireline and wireless devices by providing highly optimized RISC-based VoIP products with superior voice quality, QoS, and efficient call switching specifically designed for next generation end-points.

Dr. V. Prakash, new DG CSIR & Secretary DSIR

Dr. V. Prakash,Director,CFTRI, Mysore will be taking over as DG CSIR & Scretary DSIR from 1st January 2007. CFTRI as prolific innovator has developed over 270 products, processes and equipment designs, and close to 1600 licensees have availed themselves of 160 of these technologies for commercial exploitation. Millions of Indian children grew up on CFTRI developed baffalo milk based baby food and every Indian house hold use CFTRI's technologies in one form or another.

Padma Shri Dr. Prakash was born on November 23, 1951 at Mysore, India and had early education at University of Mysore and got his Ph.D. degree in 1976. After Post doctoral fellowship during 1976 to 1980 at Texas Medical Centre at Houston and Brandies University, Boston, he returned to India during 1981 as a Pool Officer of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research at CFTRI and rose to the position of Director of CFTRI, Mysore during 1994.

He has more than 150 publications in National, International journals, more than 345 papers presented in conferences and is the author of 6 books and 22 chapters in books, in addition to 38 patents to his credit including Patents in US and Europe. He has guided a number of Ph.D. students and continues to be active in his laboratory work with his Research team. Under his leadership CFTRI alone has filed 1000 patents, an unique distinction for any organization or R&D institution or industry in India and abroad.

The Government of Karnataka has honoured him with 50th Anniversary of India's Independence Golden Jubilee Award for Science for the District of Mysore during 1997 and the Karnataka Rajyothsava Award for 1996. The DuPont Protein Technologies International bestowed on him the 2001 Protein Technologist and Nutrition Award. The prestigious FICCI-2001 award was awarded during December 2001 for his outstanding contribution in Life Sciences. The prestigious National Science award of India, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in the field of Biological Sciences was awarded to him for Biological Sciences was awarded to him for Biological Sciences. During 2003 he is elected as Fellow of The Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), UK.The Govt. of India has honoured Dr. Prakash by bestowing PADMA SHRI award in recognition of his outstanding service to the Nation.

Seedfund

Seedfund , smallest VC fund, is now at work and invites proposals from start-ups needing smaller amounts but heavy mentoring.The fund size is in the range of Rs 45-60 crore ($10-13 million), and they will invest any sum upto $500,000 (Rs 2.25 crore) in a venture. The fund has institutional investors like Motorola Ventures, Reliance Capital, SVB Financial Group, Sierra Ventures and individual investors like Kanwal Rekhi, K B Chandrasekhar, B V Jagadeesh and Sridar Iyengar. Seedfund’s Managing Partners include Pravin Gandhi, Bharati Jacob (ex-Infinity Venture Fund), and Mahesh Murthy (ex-Passionfund).
Source: Contentsutra.

Legacy Intellectual Property

Companies patent aggressively as a strategy and regularly discard patents that do not fit in. Delaware economic-development agency saw an opportunity in it, received 255 patents as donation from its resident firms DuPont Co. and Hercules Chemical Co. Inc and entrusted the responsibility to Center for Advanced Technology and Innovation to evaluate , assess and license. A new package for incubating firms, space+ facilities+ funds + raw technologies has emerged.
A pointer to emerging scenario in India! Should the labs donate the technologies to incubators?

Emerging Technologies in India

Cygnus Business Consulting & Research brought out a report on “Emerging Technologies in India”. This report, covers status of sixteen emerging technologies in India in terms of applications, education, research activities, patents filed in the country, major industry forums and profiles of major R&D centers. Sectors covered include Convergence,Display technology,Embedded systems (Hardware engineering), Enabling Technologies (Information Technology),Imaging technology,MEMS,Multimedia, Networking, Nanotech ,Optical technology, Photonics,Semiconductor,Speech and Signal Processing, Telecom,Technology on Indian Languages,Wireless,Smart Card,Broadband Technology, Electronic & Electrical Technology, Nuclear Sciences,Aerospace and Logistics.

Contact person: Debasish Banerjee, Senior Marketing Manager INFORMATION
TEL: 040-23430203 – 05, 23430209(D),(m) 9347004441

VC funds for North East

Worbus plans to invest in SMEs and in north east. Read the economic times news. It currently opeartes from Pune.

Structuring of venture capital investments into India

IVCA reports (4th Quarter 2006) that after a two-year lull, investors are showing renewed interest in early stage ventures. This throws up the question of the best option for an overseas investor, particularly an US investor, to structure his investment into the Indian start – up company. The report also caried an extract of paper by Sri SR Gopalan.There are two basic options :

Under the first option, (Option A) an overseas entity, often a Delaware corporation, is formed and the investors as well as the Indian founders take a stake in the US corporation. The investors get Preferred Stock while the Indian founders are offered Common Stock. To comply with regulatory requirements, founders’ stake is either through stock options or through a payment of less than $ 25,000 as permitted by Reserve Bank under the automatic route. The US Company carries out all the US based activities such as marketing and sales. A 100% sub is formed in India for delivery operations. Often an intermediary company in a tax-exempt jurisdiction is formed to make the investment from the US Company into the Indian company.

Under the second option, (Option B) the investments are made into the Indian entity, which then sets up a 100% subsidiary or branch in the US to carry out marketing and sales. In this case also, the US investor may form an intermediary company in a tax-exempt jurisdiction to make the investment into the Indian company. As per the report with maturing of exit route in Indian shore, Option B is gaining in popularity.

UTI Ventures invests USD 6 MN in Vallabhdas Kanji

Bangalore based UTI Venture Funds (UVF), the Private Equity arm of Unit Trust of India (UTI) group , has made a private equity investment worth USD six million in Vallabhdas Kanji Limited through its Ascent India Fund.VKL is part of the Rs 500 crore Kanji Morarji Group, that includes Kancor Flavours and Extracts and Auto Hangar (India). Presently, UVF manages two funds - Ascent India Fund and India Technology Venture Unit Scheme (ITVUS). Its portfolio includes Subex systems,HBL Nife Power systems, Ramakrishna Forgings.

Ruth Dreifuss asks Novartis to withdraw its Indian patent case

Former Swiss president Ruth Dreifuss joins Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and 16 other organizations asking Novartis to withdraw its case filed in India.The challenge to India's patent law arose when an Indian patent bureau rejected an application for the Novartis cancer drug Gleevec on the grounds that the company wanted to patent a "trivial improvement". MNCs want to protect even trivial improvements , charge high prices but buy peace with NGOs by giving the medicines free or at discount. But people like Sigrid Sterckx, professor of ethics and an expert on patents at the University of Ghent in Belgium, do not agree. Read the article from asia Times Online.
Read also response from Novartis.
Rep. Henry Waxman chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, joins the debate and writes to Novartis`I do not dispute your right to apply for a patent or appeal a denial. I am concerned, however, that your attempt to influence domestic Indian law could have a severe impact on worldwide access to medicines."
Indian NGOs allege that while international support is pouring in , Indian government is considering recommendation of Mashelkar committee report advocating amendment to patent act, which could favour Novartis position.

New Ventures India

New Ventures India supports sustainable enterprise creation by accelerating the transfer of capital to outstanding investment opportunities in India that incorporate social and environmental benefits.New Ventures selects SMEs in fast-growth, environmental sectors such as ecotourism, non-timber forest products and certified wood, organic foods and fibers, renewable energy, sustainable fisheries management, and clean technologies. These SMEs are seeking capital in the range of Rs.50 lacs to Rs.15 crores. The program matches entrepreneurs with executive mentors and consultants and teams of graduate business students (MBA) to improve the enterprise's business plan to present at a New Ventures Investor Forum. It is promoted by World Resources Institute and the CII-Godrej Green Business Centre with USAID under the Global Development Alliance.

`Small is beautiful' fund

Buiness Line reported that `small is beautiful' (SIB), a Rs 231-crore private equity fund on Tuesday announced investments in three companies engaged in power generation amounting to Rs 51crore. SIB has invested in KVK Energy & Infrastructure Ltd, Hyderabad for its proposed 56-MW coal-washery-rejects-based power project in Chhattisgarh. The second investment is in Shalivana Projects Ltd for their two 10-MW biomass-based, power projects in Maharashtra. The third investment is in the Chamoli Hydro P Ltd for its five-MW hydel power project in Uttaranchal. The fund is managed by KSK Energy Ventures ltd, Hyderabad-KSK will identify, invest and develop power projects to help them achieve financial closure, after which the "Small is Beautiful" fund will invest in these projects, to finance and support their operations. KSK will also act as the Investment Manager of the fund.

Mass production of patents in China

Thompson Scientific study of patenting by Academics in 2005 has some interesting findings. Despite more than doubling in number over the six year period studied, academic inventions still represent only 5% of total inventions worldwide.The United States has seen a 21% growth in academic inventions from 2000 to 2005, with the University of California way ahead in terms of total numbers. Technology transfer here is managed by a central Office of Technology Transfer, with campus-based technology transfer offices. The inventions they lay claim to include nicotine patches, cochlear implants and atomic force microscopes.The flood has come from China- the top 10 from Asia are in China with patenting from 900 to 500- a very significant number considering that MIT score in 2005 was less than 200.

Moser Baer Photo Voltaic (MBPV) heralds new PV technology

Solar (Photo Voltaic) energy has been in the news for past few decades but has not made any significant dent due to low yield pushing capital costs to unsustainable level. The good news-Sensing new opportunities in solar energy business, IT major Moser Baer has invested Rs 350 crore in photovoltaic business, which it feels will fetch Rs 450 crore ($100 million) revenue in the next one year.It started with off shore research and strategic equity participation in two solar concentrator technology companies, Solaria and Solfocus followed by minority stake in Stion Corporation, a nanostructures technology company based in California. What is common to hard disks and PV- both use semiconductor process based on silica. The business model of MBPV is to offer clean power to villages without depending on government subsidy either to the firm or to the user.

Indians rule the US start-up arena

Immigrant entrepreneurs have taken the United States by a storm over the past decade and a half and leading the charge are Indian immigrants to the US.Indians account for 28 per cent of all foreign-founded private start-up companies in America, according to a first-of-its-kind study, 'American Made: The Impact of Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Professionals on US Competitiveness.' Read the Rediff news.

IP strategy consultancy

India Patent Agent Arjun Bala and Abhishek Raju, an IP enforcement expert offer consultancy in IP strategy. Check their web site http://myipstrategy.net/default.aspx.

`Inventors on India' workshop

Third workshop on Inventors of India was held at CIIE, IIMA, from 25th to 28th October. On 25th over thirty grass root innovators (mostly farmers, school drop outs) showcased their innovations followed by presentations by 58 innovations on 26th to 28th from innovators with formal qualifications like doctors, engineers. There can be no better proof of India on the cusp of creative urge than this gathering.

NCL starts incubation center

Venture Center is a business incubator located within NCL innovation park. This adds to the incubation facilities available across the country. Incubating start-ups will have access to rich pool of NCL know-how, the biggest patent holder in CSIR family.

Bangalore IT.in 2006 IPZONE

The “IP Zone” in Bangalore-IT.in 2006 is created to showcase the capability of Indian companies in developing IP. Companies participating in the “IP Zone” showcased products built with their IP, gelling to the theme ‘a day in the life’.

Participated Companies
- Xora
- SiRF Technology Holdings, Inc.
- Tata Elxsi Limited
- NetDevices, Inc.
- Rambus Chip Technologies (India) Pvt Ltd
- SemIndia
- Ittiam Systems Private Limited
- Encore Software Ltd.
-Innomedia Technologies Pvt. Ltd

Innomedia Technology, a technology innovation company of the Reliance ADA group displayed its CHOIS Technology products in Stalls 11& 12 of the IP Zone. The CHOIS (Converged Home & Office Interactive Services) Technology is a breakthrough technology in the world, for enabling Next Generation Internet, IPTV, VOD, VoIP, Video Conferencing and Streaming Videos on a unique Ethernet Everywhere network called Netway. CHOIS Technology, which has been developed from scratch and has been in the pilot trials for several years, is now ready for deployment through cable-operators/franchisees, through-out India and rest of the world, using a Licensing model. This is the innovation of Mohan Tambe, creator of language platform GIST at C-DAC,Pune.

India's advantage

Tatas’ buyout of Corus is not just a momentous occasion in Indian corporate history, it is turning out to be the tipping point for the country foreign investment statistics. With the Tata deal, the current fiscal may see FDI outflows overtaking inflows for the first time. Going by the data for 2006, Indian companies have so far announced over 130 acquisitions overseas, which are estimated to be worth nearly US$ 19 billion. In comparison, acquisitions announced by foreign companies in India were estimated at US$ 9 billion. in this issue of the newsletter, IBEF looks at a Crisil report, "Creating the Indian MNC", which throws light on outbound investments from India.

Responding to the increased attention on India, the India Brand Equity Foundation has created presentations on Media and Entertainment, Biotechnology, Automotive, Healthcare,Information Technology, Information Technology enabled Services, Machine Tools, Manufacturing, Oil and Gas, Pharmaceuticals, Power, Telecommunications and Textiles.

Creative Man

Following the high demand for the book "Creative Man", the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies has decided to have it adapted into English. And not only that, they have also decided to make it free. One can read it online on institute website or download it as a pdf.

"Creative Man" is a 104-page booklet and contains a likely scenario for the near future and a model for explaining the behaviour of modern man, with a focus on the increasing societal and individual need for creativity.

www.cifs.dk/creativeman/issue1/index.html

Global ranking of IITs

There is some concern about the declining rank of IITs at a time when demand for IIT graduates is at all time high. SA to PM is quoted in the press saying that there is no institute in India which is world class. Institutes like IIT are judged on several parameters and innovation is an important one. The 1997 report of MIT says that turnover of 4000 companies founded by MIT faculty & students is near that of South Africa's GDP. The incubation centers of IITs are brimming with activity & hope and we hope similar study will come from IITs soon.

Annual Creativity in Electronics (ACE) Awards 2007

EE Times wants to hear your story! Submit your nomination
today for the third Annual Creativity in Electronics (ACE) Awards.
There are 9 categories open and you could become part of a
prestigious group of finalists and winners honored by EE Times and
the global electronics industry. There is no cost to enter and you can
submit online at:
http://newsletter.eetimes.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/ezws0IDH1Z0OMp0C2MW0ES

Ittiam Systems Pvt. Ltd.

Since May 2005, INSEAD InnovAsia has been the research and marketing partner in a strategic Credit Suisse initiative to support the growth of entrepreneurship across Asia. As part of this partnership, InnovAsia has authored an ongoing series of publications on ‘Growth Challenges for Asian Entrepreneurs’. See the profile of Ittiam Systems.

DSIR National R&D Awards 2006

The Department of Scientific & Industrial Research, Ministry of Science & Technology announced the winners of the National awards for outstanding In-house R&D Achievements (2006) in various sectors/ araes. The winners are ShantaBiotechnics Ltd, Hyderabad,- Jagdish Electronics,Bangalore, Applied Research international,New delhi, Audco India Pvt Ltd, Chennai, Ajeet Seeds Ltd, Aurangabad, PTC Industries Ltd, Lucknow and Lifecare Innovations Pvt Ltd, Gurgaon.

BHEL bags order for Controlled Shunt Reactor

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (Bhel) has received its first commercial order for an indigenously developed Controlled Shunt Reactor (CSR), a device to be used in high voltage transmission lines.The order was received for supply, erection, testing and commissioning of an 80 MVAR, 400kv CSR at Karad Substation on Karad-Lonikand line on a turnkey basis from the Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Limited. The market reacted favourably , share price rose 1.10% to Rs 2,337.Why is it big news?
It is because many new products developed in India fail to generate revenues making investment in R&D a high risk proposition. Technology adoption is a complex process- read the paper `Technology Acceptance Model'.

Sankhya Technologies

Sankhya Technologies, a leading software research and development company based at Visakhapatnam announced the successful use of its tools for the design of a next generation video processor by a US design house.

SANKHYA ® CPU Design Kit (SANKHYA CDK TM ) is a collection of languages and tools that speed up the design and development of new processors. CDK includes a language -- SMDL TM (SANKHYA Machine Description Language) that can be used to model processor architectures. CDK also includes developer tools, verification tools and simulators that allow a processor design team to model, simulate and verify their processor designs from the minute they start designing their processor architecture !

Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Awards 2006

Popular Mechanics award winners set benchmarks in design and creativity.See the years awardees.

How to fund a start up :Y Combinator

A lucid write-up on `How to Fund a start-up' is available from Y Combinator-seed funding start-ups.

CSIR Diamond Jubilee Technology Award

The CSIR Diamond Jubilee Technology Award, given annually was instituted in
commemoration of CSIR’s Diamond Jubilee in 2003.Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh awarded the CSIR Diamond Jubilee Technology Award 2006 to “Tejas Networks India Limited,” a Bangalore-based next-generation company.Tejas Networks also won 8th IETE Corporate Award for Excellence in Telecommunications Systems. It was founded by Sanjay Nayak,Dr. Kumar N. Sivarajan and Arnob Roy.Tejas pioneered the development of cost effective, software-differentiated, next generation SDH/SONET products that enable telecom carriers to converge traditional voice-based networks with the new data-dominated networks

Suzlon Energy

Suzlon Energy, promoted by Tulsi R. Tanti with his brothers in now in the global league. Read the article 'The Ascent of Wind Power' in Newyork Times.

India improves competitive position

India ahead of Brazil, China and Russia in the World Economic forum's 2006 Global Competitiveness rankings. Current rank at 43 is not a big thing- but ranks pretty well in Innovation at 26, again anticipated. Check the press release.

Copyright and Emerging technologies

Lawquest and CII Mobile taskforce have brought this white paper on issues related to copyright on content of mobile phones. The whitepaper is authored by Poorvi Chothani, Partner, LawQuest. Report covers wallpapers, iTunes,ringtones, music videos, games etc. The paper is hosted by Contentsutra.

Speedy disposal of Patent litigation

After the harmonisation of patent laws the heat is now on implementation - rather speedy implementation. The procedure followed in Indian courts is known, see how US courts handle patent disputes. Read the story from Newyork Times on Judge T. John Ward of federal court in Marshall, Tex, where quick trials and plaintiff-friendly juries have made this court one of the busiest for patent cases in USA.

ESQUBE Communications Solutions Pvt Ltd

Red Herrings list of hottest communications startups in Asia includes Esqube
Communications, Bangalore.
"It could be daunting for a startup to have Skype, GoogleTalk, and Yahoo as competitors. But Esqube Communications has turned these challenges to its advantage to build low-cost and low-bandwidth voice, video, and voicemail solutions in the Internet telephony space. These products also work on a mobile platform, a feature that the likes of GoogleTalk lack. Esqube is pinning its hopes on its toll-free VoIP product, meant to replace 1-800 service. However, having one high-profile customer (Rediff.com) will not suffice; Esqube needs to bring in more customers and either partner with or license its technology to established players sooner rather than later".
This start-up was creation of Dr. H S Jamadagni, CEDT, IISc, Dr. T V Sreenivas, ECE, IISc, Dr. K V S Hari, CEO (on leave from IISc) and Dr. V Chandrasekar, ISB, Hyderabad

Click for details of this faculty start-up firm.

British invention show

The British Invention Show 2006 takes place at Alexandra Palace in London from 18 th -21st October 2006. Kane Kramer invites Indian innovators to participate in this British & International Innovation of the year awards, exhibition and IP Transfer event.
Contact:
Kane Kramer - Organiser
T. +44 (0)1462 451111T. +44 (0)1462 459999
debrosse@thebis.org
www.britishinventionshow.com
www.thebis.org

Technology for Globalising Indian firms

Indian MNCs seem to be on the horizon, their aggressive acquisition is covered by Technology Review, and regularly reported by IBEF & Economic Times.
How does this globlisation dream impact on technology strategy of the firm? Dig into it-
Download the white paper 'Technology for globalizing Indian firms".
See IBEF-ICRA Management Consulting Services (IMaCS) study report "Going Global:Indian Multinationals" , Download executive summery.

Value Proposition in Knowledge Economy

Prof. Rebecca Henderson of MIT portrayed Strategy as consisting of Value creation, Value capture and value delivery. She explained that to create value, a firm needs to :
Understand how customers needs evolve, Understand how technologies evolve , Develop world class products and services that meet customer needs.
I have explained this from Indian firms Technology Management perspective in the form of a tutorial.
Download the tutorial, read and comment.

Startups In India

Startups.in/India is about start-ups and carries interesting stories revolving around the operation, success & failure of startups around the world. A must visit for all interested in (software) start-ups. Some of them would be big stories tomorrow.

Re-emerging economies

An interesting aspect of Economic times article is the phrase- Re-emerging economies- referring to China & India. Read it.

Technorati Profile

Patent infringement cover

Taking insurance against patent infringement? It started in India, print edition of Business line of 12th sept carries a news item by Radhika Menon on this.
The insurance c overs only the legal expenses and our local insurer get it reinsured abroad. To learn more about it download article ' Covering Patent infringement risks in technology transfer agreements'. India Insure Risk Management Services Pvt. Ltd. is one such firm offering these services.

The Millennium Technology Prize

The 2006 Millennium Technology Prize was presented to Professor Shuji Nakamura on 89/2006 in Helsinki for his invention of new sources of light. President of the Republic of Finland Tarja Halonen handed Professor Nakamura the prize of one million euros and ”Peak”, the prize trophy.

According to Professor Nakamura, we have only just begun to explore the vast number of opportunities presented by applications using LEDs and lasers. ”I hope the award of this prize will help people to understand that this invention makes it possible to improve quality of life for many millions of people. This is not just a source of light that makes enormous energy savings possible, it is also an innovation that can be used in the sterilisation of drinking water and for storing data in much more efficient ways.”

As LEDs can be powered by solar panels, lighting can be provided in remote areas of developing countries. In his speech, Professor Nakamura said that he will be donating part of the prize money to organizations that promote the use of LED lighting in such locations.

Writing a Compelling Executive Summary

Research by Dr. Alok Aggarwal, Chairman, Evalueserve Inc.suggest Venture Capital market in India seems to be getting overheated with over 50 investors searching for viable and scalable ideas. There can be no better time for innovators to live their dreams. Start to learn how to write a compelling executive summery. This one is from Garage Technology Ventures

TR Young Innovators

See the list of young innovators selected by Technology Review for the year 2006.
Intel engineer Ram K Krishnamurthy developed cool computers .
Bell researcher Ashok Maliakal designed a completely new dielectric material comprising nanoparticles of titanium dioxide encapsulated in polymer shells.
Prithwish Basu, a scientist at BBN Technologies in Cambridge, MA, has developed algorithms that dramatically reduce the chance that a wireless network will drop connections or fail, all while decreasing the energy consumed by battery-powered radios.
To make mobile devices more secure, Anand Raghunathan and his team at NEC Laboratories America have given them a supplementary processor, dubbed Moses. The processor performs all of a device's security functions, such as encryption and user authentication.
Sumeet Singh has completely automated worm and virus detection, putting defenders on the same footing as attackers.

India geared up for unprecedented manufacturing growth

India's potential to further boost its already dominant role in global generics production, as well as an offshore location of choice for contract manufacturing, presents an opportunity worth an estimated $48bn (€38bn) in 2007. See summery of KPMG report.

3M's Seven Pillars of Innovation

The one 'old' company that still inspires innovators is 3M. Larry Wendling, vice-president of 3M's corporate research labs at its St. Paul (Minn.) campus, gives a seven-point list to Business Week.
1. From the chief executive on down, the company must be committed to innovation.
2. The corporate culture must be actively maintained.
3. Innovation is impossible without a broad base of technology
4. Encourage networking -- formal and informal -- among its researchers.
5. Set individual expectations and reward employees for outstanding work
6. Quantify efforts.
7. Research must be tied to the customer.

Dee Kapur

In The Design of Things to Come: How Ordinary People Create Extraordinary Products (Wharton School Publishing), authors Jonathan Cagan, Craig Vogel and Peter Boatwright present a new generation of products that transform consumer lifestyles. The authors also profile a new generation of innovators, looking at how they inspire people around them and turn their visions into reality.

One of them is Dee Kapur, who headed the Truck Division of International Truck and Engine of Ford.When Kapur started in automotive design, he was as fascinated with styling as he was with engineering. While directing the Truck Division at Ford, Kapur, along with marketeers Bob Masone and Allison Howitt and head truck designer Pat Schiavone, was viewing an old two-seat roadster with saddle leather interior. The car exuded high class, and at the same time, the leather reminded him of the saddles cowboys used. And those cowboys happen to be customers of pickup trucks. Wouldn't it be great if a pickup had a similarly luxurious interior, one that still connected to the cowboy aura? That leap led to the development of a limited-edition F-150 pickup with saddle leather interior, co-branded with the King Ranch in South Texas.The King Ranch accomplished a number of things inside Ford as well as with the F-150.

Kapur sums up his approach to managing innovation in three steps:

1. Make innovation and boldness part of the culture -- everyone needs to know what you stand for.
2. Role-model innovation as often and in as many forums as
you can.
3. Institute a management process that fosters innovation.

Nimmagadda Prasad

Nimmagadda Prasad is in the news when he successdfully completed sale of Matrix Labs to Mylan Laboratories In c of USA. When he and his co-promoters invested close to Rs 6 crore for acquiring the loss-making Matrix Laboratories Ltd, they would not have never imagined that there could be a windfall six years down the line. Prasad, executive chairman of Matrix, netted over Rs 569 crore by divesting 12.1 per cent stake (1.86 crore equity shares) in the company to US generics major Mylan today. He still holds 5 per cent (about 77 lakh shares), worth about Rs 235 crore, in Matrix. No wonder he is rated as the fastest wealth generator in Pharma.
Born into an army officer's family, Mr Prasad had his education in Hyderabad and Delhi, and earned masters degrees in science and business administration. Starting his career in 1984 as a management trainee in Delhi in Indian Molasses Co., an associate of United Molasses Co of the UK, he joined Rhone-Poulenc Chemicals (India) Ltd., which is now part of sanofi aventis in 1989, where he was made regional sales manager in Hyderabad. Mr Prasad joined Vorin Laboratories as general manager (marketing) in 1993 and rose to the position of managing director in 1995. When Ranbaxy acquired a controlling stake in Vorin Laboratories in 1999, Mr Prasad was reappointed as senior MD and CEO. Mr Prasad became the chairman and CEO of Matrix Laboratories, after it was acquired by the present management. Subsequently, he took over the position of executive chairman of the company, appointing a CEO who had worked earlier with Sandoz and Novartis. Mr Prasad is credited with turning around loss-making companies that Matrix acquired - Medicorp, Fine Drugs & Chemicals and Vera Laboratories.

VC funds for Microfinance

BHANU PANDE & AMANPREET SINGH of Economic Times report that the last one year has seen the emergence of close to dozen funds dedicated to investment in microfinance institutions. The latest to hop on to the bandwagon is the Maharashtra government's VC Fund, Urjankur, which has roped in IL&FS to manage it. Urjankur is a dedicated microfinance fund.
The biggest investment in microfinance was made by Silicon Valley-based VC guru Vinod Khosla, who joined hands with Sidbi to invest $2.5 million in Hyderabad-based SKS Micro Finance a few months ago.
On similar lines, Actis India chief Donald Peck joined International Finance Corporation (IFC), UK-based CDC and others to invest in Delhi-based Lok Capital, a VC fund that plans to invest $12 million in microfinance projects.
Redmond-based Unitus Private Equity, along with the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, has invested in Bangalore-based microfinance fund Ujjivan Financial Services.
Vikram Akula, founder and CEO of SKS Microfinance, one of the world’s fastest-growing microfinance institutions, was named by TIME Magazine as one of “The People Who Shape Our World” for 2006.
Khosla along with Grameen Foundation, invested $5,00,000 in microfinance institution CASHPOR Financial and Technical services a few months ago.
ICICI bank already invested in three micro finance funds — Hyderabad-based Bellwether microfinance fund, Mumbai’s Avishkar-Goodwell Fund and Lok Capital.

2006 Stockholm Water Prize

The Stockholm Water Prize was presented by H.R.H. Crown Princess Victoria to Professor Asit K. Biswas during a ceremony at the Stockholm City Hall on Thursday 24 August.The Stockholm Water Prize is a global award founded in 1990 and presented annually to an individual, organisation or institution for outstanding water-related activities. The activities can be within fields like education and awareness-raising, human and international relations, research, water management and water-related aid. The Stockholm Water Prize Laureate receives USD 150,000 along with a glass sculpture. HM King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden is the Patron of the Stockholm Water Prize.
"Professor Biswas is awarded the Stockholm Water Prize for his outstanding and multi-faceted contributions to global water resource issues, including research, education and awareness, water management, human and international relations in both developed and developing countries. While many highly-qualified experts in aquatic disciplines distinguish themselves as academicians, others as practitioners, others as government advisors, and others as writers and lecturers, Professor Biswas with his wide knowledge is highly recognised in all of these areas and, most importantly, has over a broad front applied his skills internationally, thereby adding new dimensions to the wise use and management of the global water resources.

Prof. Asit K. Biswas was born in Balasore, India. He is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur,

Complex semiconductor IP is an Indian opportunity

In 2005, the market for semiconductor intellectual property (IP) grew by 16 per cent to reach $1.4 billion. While patent-related IP revenues accounted for a large part of this growth, 2006 is turning out to be a strong year also for non-patent revenues. The IP market has consolidated over the last three years as traditional product categories are maturing and penetration of digital IP sockets is reaching saturation.
Looking forward, however, the demand for IP is evolving — mirroring the increasing complexity of the system-on-chip (SoC) devices that the IP is used in. The evolving IP industry will present new opportunities for the Indian semiconductor design services industry.
Semiconductor IP is crucial for the continuing progression of Moore's Law, especially for the design of more integrated SoCs. To keep up with Moore's Law, SoC designers require larger, more complex IP blocks. At present, these complex IP blocks tend to be designed by semiconductor vendors' in-house teams, though they will often be made up of simpler IP blocks acquired from the third-party market. But as semiconductor vendors shift their attention to the system-level challenges of designs with very large gate counts, they will also need third-party solutions for the more complex IP blocks. Gartner forecasts that the semiconductor IP industry will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 14 per cent over the next five years, to reach $2.7 billion by 2010. This forecast assumes that the IP industry will be able to meet the demand for more complex IP blocks.
Complex IP provides greater opportunity for differentiation than does simpler IP, which is often based on industry standards. Complex IP will include a programmable core and possibly some degree of configurability to achieve flexibility across multiple applications. Application expertise is required to optimize interactions between the compute core, peripherals and memory. Much of the differentiation will lie in the way functionality is partitioned across hardware and software and in providing SoC designers with streamlined interfaces that hide the complexity.
However, greater differentiation increases the demand for customization. Companies offering highly-differentiated, complex IP will need to adopt business models that can support fewer customers with higher-value IP deals. This brings the IP business model closer to that of design services—and poses the same challenges in terms of scalability.
(source: Christian Heidarson, Gartner Group EE Times Europe 08/17/2006 6:41 AM)

TiE – ISB Connect 2006

India’s largest networking event for entrepreneurs and investors, the TiE – ISB Connect, will be held from September 20 to September 22, 2006 at the ISB Campus in Hyderabad. TiE – ISB Connect is a unique forum that enables aspiring entrepreneurs, early-stage ventures, and growth-stage ventures to interact with potential investors, successful entrepreneurs and mentors. For Entrepreneurs Seeking OpportunitiesThis year’s event will feature eight tracks, each discussing entrepreneurial opportunities in sunrise sectors. The sectors to be covered are: • Biotech / Pharmaceuticals• Internet Technologies• Retail• Media and Entertainment• Technology• Infrastructure and Real Estate• IT / ITES Services• Sports and Fitness.

Nadathur Holdings

Nadathur Holdings and Investments Pvt. Ltd. is an investment firm established by N.S. Raghavan , Founder and Former Joint Managing Director of Infosys. It is one of the
few angel investors in India funding high-risk, long gestation R&D ventures.
Examples- Metahelix, one of the few agri-biotech companies in India developing GM crop
varieties that are drought and pest tolerant.
-Connexios, a pure play early stage drug discovery firm that leverages network biology, computation, structural chemistry, technology and Traditional Indian Systems of medicine to discover Novel Chemical Entities (NCE).
-CADES, a high-end aerospace design & engineering services firm
- REACH Technologies, aleading IT solutions company with focus on the global apparel, home furnishings and leather.

and many more

Rajasthan Venture Capital Fund (RVCF)

Rajasthan Venture Capital Fund (RVCF) has been conceptualised and funded by the Rajasthan State Industrial Development & Investment Corporation Limited (RIICO) and the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). RVCF aims at investing in companies in the Information Technology, Bio- Technology , Retail, Tourism, Entertainment and other technology-driven industries in India with focus on Rajasthan and NCR such as Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida. The Fund's investment in companies is through the route of equity, quasi-equity and debt instruments.

Indra K. Nooyi

Enrollment in science graduation courses have seen a perceptible fall in Delhi. The general decline of interest in science is a cause for concern. Perception of job prospects shape the preferences of young students , where media plays a significant role.
How far can a science student go up on the corportae ladder- well the highest possible. Indra K. Nooyi , a science grduate from Madras Christian College in India has been anointed as the CEO of PepsiCo, with $33 billion in sales, the largest United States company by market capitalization.

DSP (Digital Signal Processing) Training

Center for DSP (Digital Signal Processing) Training is promoted by Signion Systems Ltd., the leading DSP company in India. The center is industry supported and therefore industry driven. The center will concentrate on training in DSP applications and standards. Dr Sriram Jayasimha, the promoter, is an electrical engineer from IIT M and fellow of MIT with e long standing industrial experience in DSP applications with many national and international customers.
Signion has alliances with Texas Instruments, Analog Devices and other DSP chip vendors. As a result, CDT has access to the latest hardware and software development tools for almost all DSP families of devices. These tools will be available for lab use by CDT trainees.

Sonique software

when someone excites Bill gates with his innovation, it must be worth noting. Deepak Jagdish and his team created Sonique software to assist blind people. It is inspired by echo-location used by bats and helps visually challenged to perceive their surroundings and move around more safely and more easily.
click to see image
The users need to have a palmtop PC cum mobile phone for this software solution to work.The blue tooth technology is used to communicate signals emanating from objects. These signals are translated into sound frequencies and conveyed to a visually challenged person through a headphone.
click to see team details

Tragic fate of handloom artisian

Several stories have been written about the tragic fate of master craftsman in India. This one is about handloom weaver Parandhamulu, who died at the age of 50 years of heart attack. He was well known for weaving saries that fit into a match box. Difficult to beieve.. see images

self evaluation for VC funding

Billions of dollars of risk capital is on the look out for bankable ideas, yet most start-ups find in reality they do not even get an acknowledgement for their applications filed( unsolicited). Take the self evaluation route to see for yrself whether yr business idea excites a VC.
Self evaluation
Try to answer the following questions, it will help you as self evaluation and for funding agencies to understand your case.
A. Nature of product/service1. What does it do?2. Who is the user?3. Can it do anything else?4. What stage of development..lab testing, on-site beta testing, has had product sales/existing customers? What is the feedback so far? How did you get your product into the test site or identify it for sale? Who arranged the deal? Pricing model? Maintenance?5. Identified any potential difficulties or negatives about the product or service?6. Competition? Who? How long in market? Direct or justsimilar? Pricing model? What is their distribution channel like?
B. Target Marketplace for the product/service1. Size of company2. Who own the IP, what is IP classified as and is it globally applicable?3. Type of company4. Geography5. Other demographic?6. Why these? Priority of the above? How manyexecutives/decision makers in these types of "ideal" companies have been spoken to directly about what's being offered, their willingness to purchase from a small, start-up company, their actual need to resolve the below business issues with some sort of urgency, what they were willing to pay to make these business issues go away, and can they. when/how would they go about getting funding for that type of pain relief?
C. Business issues that the product solves1. Main and secondary benefits of product2. What would happen if these business issues go unresolved? Is this a "must have" product/service or a "nice to have?"3. Who is the most likely contact/title that would own thebusiness issue? Why? Discuss pitfalls of working with thistitle/contact only4. ..any secondary titles?5. What else might it be able to resolve?
D. Discuss what's been done already to confirm any of the above information?
E. How do they or plan to keep track of what's been said, sent, or done to what prospect companies?1. Who's going to take care of fulfilment, follow-up, and / or sales calls once prospects have been identified?2. Company organization.who's who, doing what?
F. Discuss how they see their growth path - which below scenarios and why.1. Sell company to highest bidder as soon as possible?2. Develop relationship to distribute or sell product/service with a partner(s) under partner's branding3. Outsource manufacturing, distribution, and or sales under your name/brand?4. Sell licensing arrangements to existing, established companies in the same marketplace5. Develop own internal manufacturing, distribution, and/or sales force.
G. What are they doing to put themselves in a position to grow in any of these directions.what information are they relying upon in making these choices.

Micro Technologies (I) Ltd

NASSCOM president Kiran Karnik launched Micro Technologies (I) Ltd's 'Micro VBB Marshal', a customized security product for the ITeS and BPO industry, at the 7th Auto Expo held at New Delhi.

Micro VBB Marshal is a mobile phone and GIS-based vehicle location and tracking applications security product with RFID. This product has features like vehicle location monitoring (cell based), tele-matics (two-way communication), emergency messaging and intrusion detection and vehicle immobilization. The antitheft device with various sensors installed in the vehicle converts the mechanical action into digital command and passes it to the registered user's mobile phone/control panel in the shape of an SMS and the vice-versa. This box senses any intrusion of vehicle doors and immediately communicates such events to the registered user's mobile through SMS.It also features a Panic button, which is installed both in drivers as well as passenger cabin. This button can be used in case of emergency and communicated to the control panel about the emergency in the vehicle. The vehicles registered user can control his/her vehicle globally by sending command from mobile as SMS to “Micro VBB”.

Micro VBB had received the acceptance for Patent as per the Acceptance Intimation 287/MUM/2004/5119 from the Indian Patent office. A PCT (patent co-operation treaty) international application has also been filed for the International Patent in 123 countries including USA for the same.

Home page : http://www.microtechnologies.net/

Ramakrishnan Srikant

ACM SIGKDD announced that Ramakrishnan Srikant is the winner of its 2006 Innovation Award. Srikant is recognized for his seminal work on mining association rules and privacy preserving data mining.

ACM SIGKDD Innovation Award is the highest technical award in the field of data mining and knowledge discovery. It is given to one individual or one group of collaborators who has made significant technical innovations in the field of Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery that have been transferred to practice in significant ways, or that have significantly influenced direction of research and development in the field.
(source : http://www.kdnuggets.com/news/2006/n15/4i.html)
Dr. Srikant received his M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and his B. Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.
( personal page :http://www.rsrikant.com/)

Band of Angels in Delhi

Band Of Angels open shop in Delhi.
Started in April 2006, the Band of Angels is a unique concept which brings together highly successful entrepreneurs and CEOs from India and around the world who are interested in investing in start up / early stage ventures which have the potential of creating disproportionate value. The Band , in addition to money, provide constant access to high quality mentoring, vast networks and inputs on strategy as well as execution. The Band members, because of their background are better able to assess the potential and risks at the early stage.

The Band looks at a broad spectrum for investments :
- IT products & services - High end BPO / KPO
- Retail - Biotech & Pharma
- Internet - Media & Entertainment
- Leading edge technology in telecom & embedded domains

The Band looks at investing typically upto USD 100,000 to USD 1 mn. and exiting over a 3 to 5 year period through an IPO, M&A or strategic sale. The Band may consider investments over a million dollars but is likely to do so through syndication.

web page : http://www.boaindia.com

Alternative Energy Urjankur Fund

IL&FS Investment will manage the Urjankur Fund, a venture capital fund set up by Government of Maharashtra for non conventional energy generation. The fund will have a corpus of Rs 418 crore, out of which Government of Maharashtra will contribute Rs 218 crore over a period of three years and the rest will be raised from private sector.Urjankur Fund will support commercially viable alternative energy projetcs. “These projects will be developed on 80:20 debt equity ratio. If an individual sugar factory could contribute Rs 1 crore towards equity, the balance Rs 3 crore will come from the Urjankur Fund,” Maharashtra's minister for non-conventional energy, Vinay Kore, said.

source : http://www.vccircle.com/blog/_archives/2006/7/19/2136890.html
ILFS: http://www.ilfsinvestmentmanagers.com/

The Wall Street Journal Asia’s Asian Innovation Awards 2006

In keeping with traditions of Asian invention, you are invited to nominate yourself or your company for the 2006 WSJA Asian Innovation Awards, and the Global Entrepolis@Singapore Technopreneur Award. AIA entries can be new methods and technologies, or new ways to apply existing knowledge in creative ways to improve quality of life or productivity. Entries for the GES Technopreneur Award will be judged on innovation, technology and the commercial potential of their proposals. Entries may come from business or academia in Asia Pacific. Winners will be profiled in a special issue of The Wall Street Journal Asia on November 1, and will be honored at a special gala event in Singapore.

Deadline for entries: September 1, 2006

For more information on the Asian Innovation Awards, please visit www.dowjones.com/innovation/asia
Contact person : Eva Yim, Assistant Marketing Manager , The Wall Street Journal Asia , 25/F Central Plaza , 18 Harbour Road
Email: eva.yim@dowjones.com, Tel: (852) 2831 2585, Fax: (852) 2503 1549

Lemelson Recognition and Mentoring Programme

Lemelson Recognition and Mentoring Programme, is a joint initiative of
IIT-Madras and Rural Innovations Network. This programme seeks to recognise
grass-root innovators and their supporters. For more on this programme, pl
visit www.lramp.org.

One group of supporters is "Investors" and "Enterprises". Many investors
have funded innovators and related enterprises, while entrepreneurs have
helped them scale-up. L-RAMP believe of the need to recognise these
efforts and instituted awards and invites nominations from such investors and entrepreneurs ( from Tamilnadu).

The award comprises of a certificate, cash award of Rs 20,000/- and a
trophy. The awards will be distributed at a glittering ceremony which will
be held later this year.Last date for receiving nominations is the 31st July 2006.

Contact : "PAUL"

VC confort zone

Tradionally research findings always found that VCs are more comfortable in investing in nearbu ventures.Paper by Miruchi & Stearns 2002) says the probability that a VC will invest in a target venture is reduced sharply as distance to the target increases.

Now, the 2006 global survey, released Wednesday (July 12) by Deloitte & Touche and the National Venture Capital Association, found that China and India remain the top overseas targets for U.S. venture capitalists. While many investors continue to focus on the U.S. market, the survey also found that 53 percent of U.S. respondents want to expand overseas.The survey found that China (30 percent) and India (25 percent) topped respondents' list of targets for global investments. U.S. investors picked India as the top country outside the U.S. with "access to quality entrepreneurs." China topped the list of countries offering the best access to foreign markets.
Source : http://www.eet.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=190302497

Workshop On "Cluster Development"

UNIDO Cluster Development Programme has promoted the cluster development concept during the last ten years in India, through a range of cluster initiatives. While the initial set of initiatives focused on economic growth through collective efficiency, of late UNIDO has taken up two action research projects, each of 3 years’ duration, with emphasis on two critical areas – clusters and poverty alleviation, and secondly, clusters and social responsibility of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Both subjects are of immense significance, especially with respect to the social dimensions of economic growth.

While the project on poverty & clusters will be concluded in June 2006, the one on social responsibility of SMEs is planned for completion in May 2008. Both Projects are funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) with the objective of exploring the changes required in standard cluster development approach that will then help addressing these social issues more effectively and efficiently.

In order to share and validate the learning that emerged during project implementation and also to explore new dimensions not covered in the project by UNIDO, but that can enrich growth with social development, UNIDO and SDC has organised a 2-day Workshop on “Cluster Development and Social Issues: Preliminary Findings and Way Forward”. The workshop was held at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi on the 10th and 11th May, 2006.

The minutes and some of the key presentations made during the workshop can be downloaded from http://www.smeclusters.org/workshop.htm

Ekta Incubation Centre

Ekta Incubation Centre, located in St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata. supports incubation in this region comprising of the states of West Bengal (7 Universities), Orissa, Bihar, Tripura, Assam & The North Eastern States.

For details click on http://www.wbutekta.org/about_us.htm

Innovations from Brazil

Fabiano Gallindo in this blog http://inovelab.blogspot.com/
covers extensively Barzilian innovations. Check out now.

Best of Amul

Amul is the best brand in India.Cola firms may spend millions on advertisement but they pale into insignificance in comparision with Amul advts on simplicity and creativity.
Take a look at the best of Amul, the best of advertsing in the world at:
http://www.amul.com/hits.html

Accessing Early-Stage Risk Capital in India

See report of Rafiq Dossani, Stanford University & Asawari Desai, TiE Inc at
http://iis-db.stanford.edu/pubs/21184/Risk_Capital_India_June_2006.pdf
The study reviewed the private risk capital industry in India, covering angel investments, venture capital, private equity and other funding sources1 available for early-stage firms. 175 capital providers, venture-funded firms, regulators and policymakers were interviewed and 42 respondents completed questionnaires