MNCs offer to donate technologies to Social Entrepreneurs targeting poverty reduction.

Potential of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to reduce poverty by improving poor people’s access to education, health, government and financial services has led to many programs in India and Outside. Popular are ICT plans to help small farmers and artisans by connecting them to markets. Health and solar are another group of technologies leveraged by social entrepreneurs.

Capital remains main concern of social entrepreneurs , while technology deployed is undifferentiated/ open/ non-exclusive, the business plan netting the funding has to be innovative. The new generation social entrepreneurs are more comfortable with changing technology and plan to base their ventures on technology as key factor. And they need technology `free' and MNCs are willing to `donate' that technology.

One of the platform connecting social entrepreneurs/ NGOs with MNC is crush poverty now.
Technology seekers can write to:

 Kewal k. Likhyani, Ph-D; CLP

 President, IP2Revenues.com

 302-252-5056
  kewal.likhyani@comcast.net

last date: 15th April 2014  

DIPP discussion paper: Towards strong and meaningful university-industry collaboration and creation of sustainable competitive advantage in manufacturing - Missing links and way forward

The paper can downloaded from here.
Suggestions and recommendations made in this discussion paper are:
4.1.1 Targeted investments by Government in R&D projects of national importance over a reasonable horizon, say 5 years: 
4.1.2. Enactment of the Indian version of a law such as the one passed in Japan in 1998 for promoting the establishment of  technology licensing/ transfer organisations (TLOs) with authority to license some university inventions and to channel royalties back to the inventors, their laboratories and their universities.
4.1.3.Enabling stronger University-Industry collaboration through joint research and contract research in select universities.
4.1.4.Enactment of the Indian version of the Bayh Dole Act (passed in US in December, 1980) with a distinct Indian footprint which addresses the country’s concerns.
4.1.5.Introduction of utility model for promotion of incremental innovation, particularly in the SME sector.
4.1.6.Human resource development for strengthening the innovation eco-system.
4.1.7.Facilitating access of industry to environment friendly patents and other technology patents, particularly in manufacturing.

One wonders what is new in this. There is no shortage of reports in the country , the problem is not in diagnosis but in treatment. Some impulsive thoughts on these recommendations.

4.1.1. Targeted investment - who will do the targeting- Government departments , government funded labs? And industry role is limited to participation in high powered committees. One does not need committees to identify thrust areas, read Gartner reports or MIT reports or any other think tank. The question is what can government do thereafter. Government committees identifying thrust areas and government funded research institutes developing technologies in those thrust areas for transfer to commercial firms in old hat. The five year time frame is important but department approving a 5 year project would freeze all mile stones and output  prior to approval. The GFR and CAG would not be kind to mid term rethinking.
4.1.2. Incentives to Innovators. Technology Transfer Offices and incentives to innovators do exist in CSIR, IITs etc. NRDC  was started decades back, Intellectual Ventures is active in India and Government approved scientists/ researchers promoting technology ventures with their knowledge as sweat capital. The royalty earning of research institutes is so meager, forget about sharing windfall profits with inventors they cannot attend a meeting of AUTM without government support. 
4.1.3. industry-institute collaborative research: There are fiscal incentives and research grants made available to both institutes and industry. There is a ocean of literature on this- why incentives do not forge research links.
4.1.4. Indian version of Bayh Dole Act.- no recommendation on changes to be made to the proposed legislation other than a wish that it should be passed.
4.1.5, 4.1.6 and 4.1.6- Like 4.1.4 these are part of wish list.

conclusion: this paper has no substance of value, totally devoid of actionable recommendations.
Do you agree?

Long Coastline of Andhra : a discovery by policy makers

Once arrival of new state of Andhra is announced, politicians are busy searching for clothes to dress the baby. Andhra politicians discovered long coast line and daily assure the public that this strategic advantage would transform economy of new state. It may be possible to build ports, power plants, economic corridors provided the coastal land is not eaten away by cyclones. 
The long coast needs natural or manmade sources, which can dissipate or deflect the potential wind and wave energy and protect the coastal life and properties from the calamities,  called as coastal shelterbelt. These can be hard defenses like static shoreline structures such as those constructed from timber, steel, concrete, asphalt and rubble. Soft defenses include mobile/ responsive defense measures, seek to work with nature rather than control it. Such structures may consist of sand or shingle beaches and dunes or banks, which may be natural or constructed, and may include control structures. These can include soft solutions of beach nourishment, cliff/dune stabilization, bypassing and managed retreat. A 'bio-shield' is formed by planting a vegetation belt along coastlines would protect India against future coastal storms, cyclones and tsunamis.
Antonio Mascarenhas in his paper in current science highlighted:

• failure of hard structures indicate the unsuitability of extensive coastal protection works.
• wide beaches and high dunes act as efficient dissipators of wave energy. However, dense population crushed this option.
• coastal forests, green shelter belt is a better option but they need to be repaired after every cyclone and merged with economic activity of share based population.
• network of canals , drains, tidal creeks are essential to drain storm water. 

Will the new govt accord priority to coastal protection?

CDAC Mohali Designed Digital Stethoscope

CDAC Mohali has developed a wireless Digital Stethoscope The device works with a wired headset as well as with a Bluetooth enables wireless headset. The heartbeat analysed through the device can be displayed on a mobile handset and the data can be stored on a laptop. 
Compared to a commercially available digital stethoscope, that costs about `60,000/-, CDAC developed Digital Stethoscope will cost around `6,000/- (prototype) plus `2,000/- for the Bluetooth Headset. 

The key features of the Wireless Digital Stethoscope: 

• Picks up sounds directly from the body surface 
• Improves low frequency sounds characteristics through the use of Advance filtering technique 
• Audio frequency band for heart and lung sounds:20 Hz to 320 Hz 
• Op Amp Gain: 40dB 
• Sampling rate: 4KHz with Sample Averaging 
• Wireless transmission over Bluetooth 
• Power supply: 3.6 V Chargeable Battery with on board charging 
• MCU based volume control 
• Analog output port for headphone 
• Battery life: 100 hours of continuous power operation 
• Handheld portable device 
• Supported by Mobile application to capture wireless data and plot the graph of acoustic signal from heart and lungs 

The trials of the device are presently underway. Technology transfer process is also likely to start shortly. Interested parties may contact Shri D.K. Jain (Executive Director), Telemedicine LAB & Bio-Medical, CDAC, Mohali (dkjain@cdac.in)

Survey on Foreign Collaboration in Indian Industry: 2007-2010

The RBI survey captures comprehensive information relating to the nature, pattern, and operations of Indian companies having technical collaboration with foreign companies valid during the period April 2007 to March 2010.Highlights of the survey:

Drop in pure technical collaboration.

• Out of the 158 companies which had entered into foreign technical collaboration agreements during the period 2007-08 to 2009-10, 129 were subsidiaries, 19 were associates having equity participation and 10 had pure technical collaboration (PTCC).
• Out of 678 companies which has entered into foreign non-technical collaboration (equity only) , 543 were subsidies and 92 associates. 
• Patents transferred as part of agreement stood at 5 in 8th survey compared to 3 in seventh survey.

This was on expected lines as with liberalization, Indian partner is not a condition for operating in India. MNCs discovered that doing business in India is easier with professional managers than rent seeking Indian business partner.

Impact on Economy

• The total value of production reported by the foreign collaboration companies covered in the present survey increased from `604.8 billion in 2007-08 to `822.4 billion in 2009-10. As a percentage of GDP these companies contributed 1.3% of GDP. 
• The number of employees in the responding foreign collaboration companies increased from 62,166 in 2007-08 to 71,268 in 2010.
• Total exports of the foreign collaboration companies covered in the present survey increased from `120.7 billion in 2007-08 to `156.7 billion in 2009-10.Total imports made by the foreign collaboration companies covered in the present survey increased from `275.0 billion in 2007-08 to `342.3 billion in 2008-09 but declined to `299.0 billion in 2009-10.
• R&D intensity measured as the ratio of R&D expenditure to the value of production declined for both manufacturing as well as service sector from 1.55 in 2007-08 to 0.83 in 2009-10.

Trend

• Foreign Collaboration has negligible impact on GDP, employment, exports or R&D. Strange, considering the fact that India needs better technology in all sectors. 
• Direct import of technology goods seem more attractive than even local assembly with FC.
• Unlike China, Indian govt had no strategic vision of technology acquisition. While China made heavy payments for patents & technology and became global leader in  areas like High Speed Rail transport, Batteries etc, India every year routinely transfers large payments to Suzuki, Unilever etc as royalty(!).

civil engineering in China

The Challenge: How to construct overpass over a busy high speed rail track in Wuhan city. Traffic cannot be halted and overpass has to be 256m long weighing 17,000 tonnes spanning 11 rail lines. Engineers in China built the overpass outside the rail lines and rotated it 106 degrees on a 15 metre axis to position it above running trains and it took just 90 minutes.

 source:Saindranath Jonna

 

InTech50 Most Innovative Products from India: Bangalore from April 9 -10, 2014

InTech50, a joint initiative by iSPIRT and Terrene Global Leadership Network, that recognizes most promising software products by India’s entrepreneurs,  confirmed the first set of 10 selected products from over 200 nominations.The first 10 finalists for InTech50 2014 Most Innovative Products (in alphabetical order) are:

•  99tests is a Crowd sourced Testing Marketplace with over 6500 testers from over 20 countries. Software product owners can get their applications tested on different versions of web browsers and various mobile devices to find critical bugs.

• Cerebra (patent pending), a product from Flutura Solutions is a Machine-to-Machine Big Data Analytics platform that has the capability to unlock signals embedded within cryptic machine logs.

• CoCubes is India’s largest assessment and campus hiring platform. The company works with 450+ corporate for hiring that provide greater control and transparency, while assisting institutional clients measure and improve employability and helping students move ahead on their career path.

• Datonis (TM) is a platform from Altizon which helps get any device connected to the internet, manage these connected devices and drive data related to their performance and usage to a cloud based data aggregation and analytical engine to glean operational and consumer insight.

• Freshdesk is a leading SaaS based customer support software that has more than 16,000 Support Teams across the world using it to deliver exceptional customer service. Freshdesk allows businesses to support customers through email, Twitter, Facebook, chat, phone, forums and other channels.

• Bizosys’ HSearch is an award winning Hadoop based search and analytics engine to handle several terabytes of data. HSearch has been deployed by clients in Telecom infrastructure, Pharmaceutical R&D, Energy management, online retail, financial analytics industries with the core search engine available as open source.

• Uniken has developed a path breaking Secure Digital Platform, REL-IDTM – which delivers ubiquitous, rich multi-channel digital experience with military grade security to the customers, employees and partners of an enterprise. Through REL-ID, the end users enjoy a rich and secure digital experience across devices and platforms.

• Whatfix is a solution for creating interactive support faqs, training and product tours. With Whatfix anyone can create such interactive guides with just a few clicks and integrate them with products, applications & websites.

• WhistleTalk is a SaaS based referral hiring solution that allows companies to leverage the social network of all their current employees, reach out to their friends and hire them. This unique approach helps organisations to supercharge their referral hiring.

• ZipDial is a pioneering Mobile Marketing & Analytics platform for emerging markets. Marketers and advertisers utilize ZipDial to transform their brand campaigns into highly interactive and viral user experiences, while building a loyal customer base.

Indian Commodity Innovation Map by World Startup Report

Crowd sourcing Prior-art search

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) encourages subject-matter experts to take advantage of a new rule implemented under the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) that allows third parties to submit relevant materials to patent examiners in any given examination. Submission of proposed prior art helps examiners determine whether the innovation in the application is patentable. 

To give effect to this provision, on Sept. 20, 2012, the USPTO partnered with Stack Exchange (a popular question/answer tech website) and Google to create AskPatents.com. Like other Stack Exchange websites, AskPatents.com is formatted in a question/answer style in which citizen volunteers and other interested parties ask about patent applications (and patents) they think are suspicious. In turn, the community reviews the questions, proposes prior art solutions and votes up/down posted prior art to rate examples people find. The USPTO provides a system for submission of the prior art, while Google provides an algorithmic search utility to help uncover references.

Case: Scaling based on pixel density (Microsoft)- rejected by USPTO based on prior art by Ask patent community.

TITLE: Scale factors for visual presentations

• Publication Number: US 20130063492 A1
• App Number: 13/230445
• Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Prior Art Cutoff Date: Prior Art predating Sept 12, 2011
• Availability for Challenge: Open Until at least Sept 14, 2013

Summary: This application generates and display graphical elements based on pixel density. The invention selects a scale factor from a scale factor set that is within the range of the pixel density.
Claim 1 requires, among other things:

A method of generating, using a device having a processor, a presentation comprising elements to be displayed on a display component, the method comprising:

• executing on the processor instructions configured to:
  
  • identify a pixel density of the display component;
  • for respective elements of the presentation:
    
    • from a scale factor set, select a scale factor having a pixel density range including the pixel density of the display component; and
    • request the element to generate a scaled representation using the scale factor; and
  • generate the presentation comprising the scaled representations of the elements.

QUESTION - Have you seen anything that was published before 09/12/2011 that discusses (1) scale factor; (2) scale factor set; and (3) pixel density range in the manner described in claim 1?
Best Answer: "Writing DPI-Aware Win32 Applications", an article by Ryan Haveson and Ken Sykes, published by Microsoft and dated September 2008.

Technology offer: Pre-treatment of lignocellulosic biomass for the production of second-generation bioethanol

A procedure for making soluble the lignin and other polymers responsible for the low digestibility of lignocellulosic materials, in particular rice husks, has been developed by the University of Cadiz research group on "Food Engineering and Technology” (AGR-203). This new procedure utilizes hydrogen peroxide in conditions of high pressure for digesting the material. This pre-hydrolysis stage is essential for extracting maximum amounts of the sugars that are subsequently fermented to produce second-generation bioethanol.Details: Innoget 

Electrolux 2014 competition for students

The topic for 2014 is -Creating Healthy Homes in 3 focus areas:

• Focus 1 – Culinary Enjoyment
  Design challenge: Which inspiring and motivating solutions within culinary enjoyment can be designed to support the desire for healthier lifestyles in future homes?
  Focus 2 – Fabric Care
  Design challenge: How can design solutions within fabric care offer support to the desire for sustainable, stylish and well managed homes?
  Focus 3 – Air Purification
  Design challenge: How can air purification be designed in a way that enhances the quality of the different activities in our living environments and addresses specific needs?

Has India benefited from the enactment of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002?

From Darryn Smyth post in IP Kat:

 India’s accession to the CBD and the subsequent enactment of the BD Act has been based on a post-colonial narrative where it was presumed that the West was exploiting India’s rich biodiversity and that India was only losing through a regime of free trade in biological resources. This assumption is possibly flawed since India has also gained through free trade of biological resources. There is perhaps no better example than the Green Revolution of the sixties and seventies which made India self-sufficient in basic food crops. This was possible due to Norman Borlaug’s high yielding wheat varieties from Mexico. There are several other examples of crops like potato, peas and tomato entering India from other countries and becoming a staple in the Indian diet.
Our primary concern with the massive bureaucratic apparatus created by India to execute its obligations under the CBD is the fact that it is creating a massive opportunity for rent-seeking and delaying and bureaucratizing scientific collaboration and research projects within and outside India. The fact that the Indian legislation has a penal provision greatly adds to the climate of fear surrounding research involving biological resources in India. It doesn't help that these provisions have actually been invoked in one case, where Indian academics of a government university are facing the possibility of jail time for an alleged violation of the BD Act while working on a government funded project. More recently there has been news of Hershey’s top brass being prosecuted for allegedly violating the BD Act. 
We agree that biodiversity must be protected but clearly India is on the wrong path.

Hygeia Bioresearch- New Medical Device venture

Hygeia Bioresearch Private Limited (HBPL) is a medical device venture based in India that focuses on the development of portable bio-diagnostic technologies for real time haematology. Their IP-protected novel electronic integration technology supports the convergence of microfluidics with conventional electronic systems in a miniaturised form. HBPL is an incubatee of TREC-STEP (Technology Business Incubator, Government of India).

Founder Mukesh Kumar, is a first generation entrepreneur with extensive research experience. Mr. Mukesh was nominated for SET (Science, Engineering and Technology Student of the Year) awards from Lancaster University in 2008  and also received prestigious awards such as Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS, London) research grant, Higher Education Innovation Fund (UK research council), Leverhulme PhD studentship (Leverhulme Trust, UK), Peel Studentship (Peel Studentship Trust, UK), and Education grant awarded by the American Services to India (USA).

India's first Intellectual Property Rights Helpline‏

India’s first IPR helpline is offered by Inolyst. You can clear all your doubts on Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights with our experts, free of cost!  Call 080 - 3927 5503 - 

India's Innovation Performance w.r.t to EU

European Commission published Innovation Score Board 2014 comparing states within EU and EU with USA, Japan, China,India etc. Excerpts from the report on India:

USA and South Korea have a performance lead over EU at  17% and Japan had a lead of  13%. China is at 44% of EU level. India performs relatively better in `Knowledge Intensive Service exports' and lead in this one parameter is also shrinking.

Indian Research Output 2008-2012-Elsevier

• A recent study prepared by Elsevier shows that India has achieved substantial growth in research articles output, increasing from 54 thousand in 2008 to 93 thousand in 2012 at an annualized growth rate of 14.4%. 
• Over the same period from 2008 to 2012, India’s share of the top 10% of the most cited articles – a proxy for high quality research articles – rose from 2.0% to 3.1%.
• proportion of Indian research cited in patents is relatively low. The relative share of India’s patent citations to articles published from 2007 to 2011 is for  India (0.65).

Stable Spoon- innovation from Anupam Pathak

Ten years ago, Anupam Pathak was a Ph.D. student at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, working on a university lab project to help stabilize stressed soldiers’ rifle barrels. Soldiers shaking with fear, dread, or stress cannot fire accurately, but canceling the shaking stabilizes the aim. Today,, Pathak has used what he learned about canceling human tremor to help the more than 5 percent of the United States population suffering with essential tremor and to help others with neurological diseases like Parkinson’s that can cause trembling. A three-person startup company he founded, Lynx Design, of San Francisco,  released the LiftWare tremor-cancelling spoon under the company’s Lift Labs name. 

Active Cancellation
The technique uses active cancellation hardware, which is currently used in noise-cancelling headphones. As part of his Ph.D. work, Pathak figured out how to make active cancellation hardware small enough to fit within the tremor-cancelling spoon. The utensil stops the bowl of the spoon from moving even while the handle itself may be trembling, which lets users can eat without spilling. 

Pathak did his research before creating the LiftWare spoon. He discovered that today’s tremor-assistive devices usually attempt to cancel movement and for that reason are big, bulky, and inconvenient. “You don’t want to use things like that in public and they don’t even work that well at home,” Pathak said. “Our idea was not to stop the hand from shaking but to cancel its movement. That way, we can make our device really small, the size of an electric toothbrush, and you can use it every day.”

Source:Jean Thilmany

Business Accelerator in a Stock Exchange

I was intrigued with the news of a Canadian University launching a business accelerator in a stock exchange. Then I dig on to find more. The university is Ryerson University, Toronto incubating over 70 start ups in their Digital Media Zone (DMZ). Their model called DMZ Model has certain unique elements.

Linking Education to Ideation is the novelty. 
BSE Institute is subsidiary of BSE offering several specialized programs. See details.
A rare mix of skills and one that promises to uncover new pathways to groom global talent.  

`Progressive Purchase' pricing model for household energy systems

“Progressive Purchase” is a new pricing model developed by Simpa Networks that shares some characteristics of the familiar “prepaid”, “pay as you go”, and “installment plan” pricing models. Under Progressive Purchase, the consumer makes a series of payments, each of which unlocks the solar home system for a paid amount of energy consumption (Kwh).  Once the prepaid consumption is exhausted, the solar home system is temporarily disabled until another paymenmt is made.  Once the consumer has fully paid the total purchase price of the product, full functionality is restored and the product is permanently unlocked.

The Progressive Purchase pricing model is enabled by the Simpa Regulator, a tamper-proof, system-integrated micro controller and user interface that regulates the function of  solar home systems based on proof of payments, and the Simpa Revenue Management System, a centralized software solution in the “cloud”, accessible via SMS gateway and over the internet, for payment processing and accounts settlement.

Lessons from Lepakshi Knowledge Hub

January 2012, Business Standard

Global Emerging Markets (GEM), a $3.4-billion alternative investment group having its presence in 55 countries, and former Chief Vigilance Commissioner N Vittal-promoted Gujarat Vittal Innovation City have entered into a joint venture with Andhra Pradesh-based Lepakshi Knowledge Hub to develop a green eco system for knowledge-based services, manufacturing, R&D and incubation activities. To be developed on 2,500 acres allotted by Lepakshi from its 10,000 acre Knowledge Park located in Anantapur district bordering Karnataka.

February 2014 Indian Express

The government issued a show-cause notice to Lepakshi. However, the company failed to give proper replies and the government cancelled all the incentives. The principal obligation of the Lepakshi was to establish a World Class Global Knowledge Hub by providing integrated infrastructure support to universities, science & technology parks, medical parks, aerospace parks, agro food parks, IT/BT parks, logistic parks, global eco theme village, business financial district, FTWZs, energy projects, commercial, retail, residential and other support infrastructure etc., at Chilamattur and Gorantla mandals.The government concluded that there was no substantive progress in the project and no specific action plan has been provided.

Lesson to retired Bureaucrats

Think twice before lending your name to shoddy plans. 

support for small budget innovations benefitting MSME from VNRVJIET, Hyderabad

MSME recently approved incubator of VNRVJIET at Hyderabad to support innovations under their incubator support program. Details of MSME program:

http://www.dcmsme.gov.in/schemes/Incubatee_Application_Format.pdf

Individuals/ Micro and Small Enterprises having innovative business idea at near commercialization stage and needing about 5 lakhs to complete the development can apply to edcell@vnrvjiet.in. 

First Product Industry Monitor Report

iSPIRT has brought out the product start-up report (Feb 2014) based on survey carried out by Sharique Hasan (Assistant Professor at Stanford's Graduate School ofBusiness),SrivardhiniK.Jha(Research Scientis with McGill Centre for Convergence of Health and Economics and Fellow at iSPIRT), and  Rembrand Koning(a doctoral candidate at Stanford's Graduate School of Business). Findings:

• Over 50% of software product firms are bootstrapped.Majority invested less than a crore and valuation is generally less than 10 millionUSD.
•  40% of founders came from MNCs and the founders have a similar background & skill sets.Founders are older with 70% in 301-40 age group.
• Bangalore and Enterprise sectors dominate.

Emergence of entertainment and creative cluster at Hyderabad: Contribution of ANR

In the filmed entertainment sector Los Angeles, or Hollywood, has been the dominant cluster for many years and is the most globally recognised centre for film and television production. However, India is the largest market globally in terms of total box-office admissions and number of films produced. Filmed entertainment in India was estimated around 112 billion INR in 2012 by PWC expected to cross 200 billion INR by 2017. Digital distribution has transformed the markets with movies releasing with large number of prints across India and abroad thereby capturing revenues early combating piracy.

The market share of Hollywood films is about 9%, mostly from multiplexes in large metros. Indian film clusters evolved in a different way compared to Hollywood where all mainstream Hollywood films are produced, financed, distributed (and, to some extent, exhibited) by a handful of integrated media conglomerates (News Corp, Walt Disney, Viacom, Time Warner, NBC Universal, and Sony), and non-mainstream films are practically isolated from the mainstream system of finance and distribution. There is even structural difference amongst film clusters in Hyderabad and Chennai and Bollywood.

After Indian Independence in 1947, Bollywood films have been produced, financed, distributed, and exhibited in complex collaboration among hundreds of independent producers each owning a small-scale production company (with one or fewer annual releases), independent distributors (covering different regional territories), private financiers, and stand-alone cinema operators. seems to move towards an industry model based on alliances. Despite increased professionalism and horizontal integration in down stream processing & distribution, alliances mark the culture of Bollywood film cluster ushered in by refugee film producers, stars and entrepreneurs from Lahore. Star actors, even today are cast and signed though informal social relations, rather than through agents and lawyers, and unlike their Hollywood counterparts, written contracts are rarely used. The second category of social relations is those between producers and financiers. Since Bollywood's inception, producers have obtained most film finance either as advance payment from distributors or from private sources, and the production companies struck new finance and distribution deals for each production.

The growth of Film cluster in Hyderabad is attributed to Akkineneni Nagegewararao (ANR). At the height of popularity, he took a decision to shift to Hyderabad and insisted all his producers to shoot in Hyderabad only. He built his own studio in 1975. The formation of film cluster in Hyderabad shows that government initiatives like providing infrastructure (lands for studios, residence) and fiscal incentives (tax rebate , lower entertainment tax) etc are all important, a cluster champion is needed to form the nucleus.

Chinese Solar Mission

Chinese strategy in solar PV focussed on utilisation, manufacture and research with a synergistic policy. Interesting from Indian perspective as tend to see as all three components as mutually exclusive. Excerpts from UNU-MERIT working paper'  Diverse and uneven pathways towards transition to low carbon development: The case of diffusion of solar PV technology in China, Michiko Iizuka, (wp2014-002).

China (as of 2012) has the largest capacity for renewable power generation in the world, followed by the USA and Germany, and is one of the five largest countries in the world in terms of capacity for producing the following types of renewable energy: bio‐power (3rd), hydropower (1st), solar PV (4th), wind power (1st), solar water collection (1st), geothermal (2nd) in 2012 (REN21, 2013). 

As for manufacturing capacity, several Chinese firms, such as Goldwind, Sinovel and Migyang for wind energy and Yingli Green Energy and Trina Solar – to name a few – for solar PV, are considered the dominant players in the global export market for both wind turbine and solar PV respectively. The growing presence of China in terms of capacity to generate and manufacture renewable energy is accompanied by a growing capacity to innovate as the result of conscious efforts made by both private and public sectors.

The growing manufacturing capacity demonstrated by China’s export performance was accompanied by increasing technological efforts. Both government and firms attempted to close the technological gap with OECD countries. The results of these efforts can be observed from the rapid increase of indigenous R&D. Between 1996 and 2008, central government R&D appropriation for renewable energy increased from RMB 21.1 billion (US$2.5 billion) to RMB104.8 billion (US$15.2 billion), while expenditure by regional governments for the same purpose increased from RMB 7.8 billion (US$940 million) to RMB 105.7 billion (US$15.4billion) (Cao and Groba, 2013). 

 Parallel to such technological efforts, Chinese firms relied on the acquisition of foreign technologies using turnkey cell and module production lines and capital goods from the late 1990s to the early 2000s (de la Tour et al., 2011). During this time, the manufacturing activities of Chinese solar PV firms were concentrated on ‘easy‐to‐enter’ but ‘low‐profit‐margin’ activities of cell and module production. Subsequently, these firms’ cumulative efforts at in‐house R&D were complemented by strategies of joint R&D with universities and research institutes, as well as setting up overseas R&D facilities with government inducements for acquiring technology. Such R&D focused on crystalline silicon, which was the dominant technology at that time. Although the strongest presence of Chinese firms is still in downstream activities, i.e. cell and module production, firms have also invested in upstream activities such as the processing of silicon feedstock.

India adopted early- to- start and fast- to -vacate policy in solar PV too, established CEL in 1974, supported research regularly with small grants to IITs and increased utilisation of PV with Solar Mission.

National Intellectual Property Awards-2014

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in partnership with Government of India (Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and Intellectual Property Office),  from 2009 onwards every year celebrates the World IP Day by  recognizing and rewarding  organization/ people who have contributed in harnessing the country’s intellectual capital and creating an eco-system that boosts creativity and innovation. Continuing the trend of felicitating the achievements in IP, CII and Intellectual Property  office, India is organizing the  National  Intellectual Property Awards on 26 April 2014  at Hotel Le Meridien, New Delhi. 

The Categories for National IP Award, 2014 is as mentioned below:

I.   Top Indian Academic institution in Patent.

II.    Top R & D institution in Healthcare.

III.   Top Indian Public Limited Company / Private Limited Company / Indian subsidiary of a  transnational corporation in Patent, for  research and development conducted in India and subsequent first filing in India for the said developed invention.

IV.   Top Indian Private Company (MSME) in Patent.

V.    Top Individual in Patent.

VI.   Top Organization in Trade Mark.

VII.  Top Organization in Design.

VIII.  Top Individual in Design.

IX.    Top Geographical Indication of Indian Origin

Awardees will be selected by a jury comprising professionals from diverse fields such as: IP professionals, Industrialists and Industry Association, Academia, R&D professionals, Representative(s) of the Government of India. Selected applicants will be awarded cash prize of Rs.1,00,000/- each at an award ceremony hosted by the Indian IP Office in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry on 26 April 2014 in New Delhi .

Applications are invited from the Indian industry (micro, small, medium, large), both private and public sector, as well as firms and societies, registered in India; Indian subsidiary of a transnational corporation; Indian Academic and R&D institutions; and individuals who have IPRs granted / registered by the Indian Intellectual Property Office.

The  duly filled  application  form  is required to be sent to “Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks, Boudhik Sampada Bhawan, S M Road, Antop Hill, Mumbai-400037, so as to reach on or before 28 February 2014. (Please Note: The envelopes must be subscribed with “National IP Awards 2014”)

The details on the awards & selection process and application form are attached for your reference. 

For further details/clarity you can get in touch with Ms. Nabanita Mukherjee / Mr Gaurav Gupta (nabanita.mukherjee@cii.in/ gaurav.gupta@cii.in)  @011-45772021/ 17.

  

IGCARL, Pulivendula offers lab space and residential areas to private firms under PPP/JV basis.

Partnership is invited in the fields of :

1. Biotechnology & Nanotechnology- Vaccine production, Diagnostic kits, stem cell etc.

2.Molecular & Cytigenetics-DNA finger printing, transgenic animals, germplasm etc.

3.Reproduction & Cryobiology- sexing of semen and embryos, cloning etc

4.Microbiology & Immunology: culture development, production of SPF eggs etc.

5.Animal Nutrition= genetic engineering of rumen microbes, Methan gas reduction, Enzymes etc.

Disputes on Royalty over Standard Essential Patents.

         Before the creation of a standard, all patents are implementation patents. However, when a standard is created and a patent holder declares its patents to be essential to the standard, the patent is a standard-essential patent (SEP) and is subject to the FRAND (Fair, Reasonable, Non discriminatory) commitment. A patent holder is obligated to make licenses available to its Essential Patent Claims defined as  “any Patent Claim the use of which was necessary to create a compliant implementation of either mandatory or optional portions of the normative clauses of the [Proposed] Standard when, at the time of the [Proposed]  Standard’s approval, there was no commercially and technically feasible non-infringing alternative.” The IEEE’s guidelines emphasize that the IEEE bears no responsibility for identifying essential patent claims for which a license may be required or for investigating the legal validity or scope of essential patent claims.

         CCI ( Competition Commission of India) recently addressed this issue in the dispute between Micromax Vs Ericsson. The Informant (Micromax) has alleged that the OP (Ericsson) was demanding unfair, discriminatory and exorbitant royalty for its patents regarding GSM technology. The royalty demanded by Ericsson was excessive when compared to royalties charged by other patentees for patents similar or comparable to the patents held by Ericsson.  OP demanded royalty on sale price of product whereas Informant took the stand that royalty should be applicable on Chip (protected with the patents) and not on phone as smart phone manufacturer has to pay royalties on other components as well , leading to royalty stalking. Second, Ericsson was inclined to share data on Royalties imposed on other licensees to verify non-discriminatory aspect.

         CCI ruled:

         The allegations made in the information and not refuted by OP concerning royalty rates make it clear that the practices adopted by the OP were discriminatory as well as contrary to FRAND terms. The royalty rates being charged by the OP had no linkage to patented product, contrary to what is expected from a patent owner holding licences on FRAND terms. The OP seemed to be acting contrary to the FRAND terms by imposing royalties linked with cost of product of user for its patents. Refusal of OP to share commercial terms of FRAND licences with licensees similarly placed to the informant, fortified the accusations of the Informant, regarding discriminatory commercial terms imposed by the OP. For the use of GSM chip in a phone costing Rs. 100, royalty would be Rs. 1.25 but if this GSM chip is used in a phone of Rs. 1000, royalty would be Rs. 12.5. Thus increase in the royalty for patent holder is without any contribution to the product of the licensee. Higher cost of a smartphone is due to various other softwares/technical facilities and applications provided by the manufacturer/licensee for which he had to pay royalties/charges to other patent holders/patent developers. Charging of two different license fees per unit phone for use of the same technology primafacie is discriminatory and also reflects excessive pricing vis-a-vis high cost phones. 

         In view of above discussion, the Commission is of the opinion that it was a fit case for through investigation by the DG into the allegations made by the Informant, and violations, if any, of the provisions of the Competition Act. 

          This is the first and defining case in India. Request readers to share information on similar cases from other countries.

 

Altiux Innovations

Based out of Bangalore, Altiux helps large MNCs as well as startups in joint IP development, prototyping, new product introduction, concept development, product re-engineering and emerging market-focused solutions.CEO, Shyam Vedantam earlier worked with Harman International  as Head Engineering, General Manager , Indian R&D Center, KeyPoint Technologies,  Technoology Manager, GE etc.

Seeking Foot, Nail & Leg Care Technologies/Devices

SkyQuest,  is looking at licensing/acquiring electric/battery operated technologies/devices or products with applications in foot care, nail care and leg care.
Required features:

• Technology/Device for use on nails, feet and/or legs;
• Applications of the Technology/Device should be ranging from buffering or exfoliation of skin, filing/nail care and/or massage;

Constraints:

• Technology/Device operable via battery or powered electronically;
• If battery operated, then recharging source should also be available;
• The Technology/Device should be in market/near commercialization.

Markets to be commercialized: Worldwide.

Please note that we will not considertechnology/devices for hair removal or which are manually operated.
To submit a technology, write to info@skyquestt.com or neha.jhala@skyquestt.com

World's E-Waste

The escalating global e-waste problem is graphically portrayed in a first-of-its-kind StEP E-Waste World Map, available online at www.step-initiative.org/index.php/WorldMap.html,

The interactive map resource, presenting comparable annual data from 184 countries, shows the estimated amount of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE — anything with a battery or a cord) put on the market and how much resulting e-waste is eventually generated (i.e. comes out of use or post-use storage destined for collection by a recycling company or disposal). By providing a better sense of e-waste quantities to anticipate, the initiative is expected to The map shows, for example, that almost 48.9 million metric tons of used electrical and electronic products was produced last year — an average of 7 kg for each of the world's 7 billion people. And the flood of e-waste is growing. Based on current trends, StEP experts predict that, by 2017, the total annual volume will be 33 per cent higher at 65.4 million tons, The StEP e-waste world map database shows that in 2012 China and the United States topped the world’s totals in market volume of EEE and e-waste. China put the highest volume of EEE on the market in 2012 – 11.1 million tons, followed by the US at 10 million tons. Those positions were reversed when it came to the total volume of e-waste generated per year, there being more products put on the market in the past in the US which are now likely to be retired. Here the US had the world’s highest figure of 9.4 million tons and China generated the second highest e-waste total of 7.3 million tons. 

India generated e-waste in 2012 was 0.27 million tonnes.

Global spending on R&D: 2014 forecast

The big news is that China spending on R&D could surpass USA by as early as 2020.
Leaving aside comparison with China, poor India's spending on R&D is not insignificant. In 2014 India is expected to spend $44 billion , that is same as that of U.K and much more than wealthy nations like Canada, Sweden, Netherlands, Australia and several times that of nations known for their innovation prowess like Israel, Finland, Taiwan,Singapore.
This raises issue on productivity/ return on R&D investment.

1. How is that despite spending 4 times higher than Israel, we have nothing to show in global market place?
2 .Even in research publications, Australia, Singapore and Taiwan are far ahead.

'Innovation without Research': Concept for comments

Framework of concept paper given below for comments. This deals with technological innovations.

a)    Corporate R&D started weaning away researchers from universities by offering better facilities and freedom. In-house research centers blossomed with hundreds of highly qualified and competent scientists and researchers working in frontier areas of Science &Technology. During the boom period returns on investment in R&D  was not an issue, firms spent a percentage of their turnover benchmarking the spend with industry average.

b)    Despite large budget and acclaimed outcome, many a time firm noticed they could not compete with fast moving players. Categorization into small r, capital D followed, proving space for catch up work. It is expected that capital D projects, smal duration projects aimed at bettering competition would derive strength from capital R work. The pool of competences developed with capital R projects could be harvested for both capital R and capital D projects, where the firm is the industry leader but also for capital D projects benchmarking competitors product in the market place, with faster response. Portfolio of R & D projects, all marshaled with internal resources was in order for many years.

c)    Sponsored research was always an integral part , researchers generally continued working with alumni institute. Strategic alliances was an acknowledgement of limitation of doing everything in-house and complex strategies evolved for managing strategic alliance with shadow teams, IP sharing , market segmentation etc. acquisition of start-ups for their IP was more smoother operation.

d)    Open innovation and crowd sourcing  was a disruptive practice, firms looked at the vast pool of global talent and shifted focus from ownership to access. The complexity of innovation challenges and multiple teams accepting those challenges call for redefining the contours of global stock of knowledge.

e)    Globalization had seen relative decline in competitiveness of OECD nations and most analysts agree the only way these nations can continue to save jobs is to invest in R&D. With the result, we had seen larger number of talented people working on commercial research than ever before in human history.

f)     The pipeline taking research to market bellowed at the research end leading to a jump in global stock of knowledge. Considering the large ownership base, it can be said this stock of knowledge is publicly owned. This worked wonders for crowd sourcing of ideas, innovation challenges.

g)    And this also provides an unique opportunity for catching up economies like India to improve their innovation score without proportionate increase in national R&D budget. India , a poor nation more on R&D than Australia, Finland etc. Historically , most of spending was by government for scientific and research projects. Whereas, the industry garnered market and developed technological competences based on imported technology. Thus there was a significant disconnect between government funded research institutes and commercial firms. Globalization and IT widened  the rift to disconnect of minds. Collapse of joint ventures ended the inexhaustible source of competitive technology with most technology suppliers setting up their own Indian operations. New generation entrepreneurs smelled better success in IT enable services and largest number of engineers today work in IT firms rather than assembly lines. The  so called Indian human resource strength ends  with students graduation , still Indian government continues to increase their budgets for research by government funded institutes, calling industry to take the fruits of that public spend.

h)    India is a large country needing jobs in all categories and there is revival of interest in manufacturing mainly due to market demand and IT players are looking for value addition beyond labour arbitrage.

Hypothesis 1

Indian government can get better returns by funding proposals in capital D category based on globally sourced capital R.

Hypothesis 2

India firms need to practice and learn to use Open innovation Platforms.