Corpus Fund for Crop Advisory

Dr DSK rao is  forming a 'All India Crop Advisory Group' comprising of members drawn from across fields as follows:

Soil Scientists and Farm Preparation Experts from Public & Private Sector : 10
Water & Irrigation Experts from Public & Private : 10
Fertilizer Experts (Chemical) from Research & Industry : 10
Pesticides & Herbicides (Chemical) : 10
Organic Fertilizers & Farming : 10
Bio Pesticides & Herbicides : 10
Seed Industry including Seed Treatment : 20
Farm Management & GAP : 10
Harvesting & Farm Mechanization Experts : 10 
Post Harvest Processing : 10
Labelling , Packaging & Certification Experts including FSSAI : 10 
Retail Food Industry including Logistics, warehousing : 20 
Fisheries : 5
Poultry & Livestock : 5
Export & Import experts : 5
Agri Financing : 5
Agronomists : 5
Dairy Farming : 10
Apiculture, Sericulture .. : 5
Food Processing Technology Experts including Solar Drying/ Processing : 10
Agriculture, Horticulture & Plantation Experts : 5
Total 200

Industry Captains/ Research Organizations in Agriculture/ Rich Farmers and any others who would be keen on 'Donating' for this much needed group for supporting Agriculture in this country may contact:


DSK Rao
dskrao65@gmail.com

Is HemoGlobe device a US version of Indian innovation Biosense?

The Indian Innovation for detecting anemia in a non-invasive way is now on the road to commercialization by  Biosense, the start-up. The HemoGlobe was developed as part of a competition for a $250,000 seed grant in the Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development competition funded in part by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.(source:gigmag). 
Which is the original? 

Plea of entrepreneur for reasonable fee for transfer of technology for manufacture of R-WOOD & WATER PROOF GYPSUM PLASTER

Here is the request from a desperate entrepreneur seeking technology from govt funded research institute:

I HAVE COME TO KNOW ABOUT THIS INSTITUTION FROM A WEBSITE THAT IT IS ALL SET TO PROMOTE ENTERPRENEURIAL QUALITIES & HELP FACILITATE TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER FOR THOSE WHO ARE INTERESTED IN SETTING UP BUISNESS WITH A DIFFERENCE. BUT IT IS UNFORTUNATE THAT WHENEVER ANY ENTERPRENEUR LIKE MYSELF WHO TRIES TO AVAIL ANY TECHNOLOGY FROM GOVT. FUNDED INSTITUTIONS LIKE "AMPRI" BHOPAL OR "CBRI" ROORKEE THEY DEMAND EXHORBITANT FEES IN THE RANGE OF 8 TO 10 LACS FOR TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER WHICH FOR A SMALL OR AN UPCOMING ENTERPRENUER IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PAY UPFRONT. IT IS THE GOVT. OF INDIA WHO IS HIRING THESE SCIENTISTS TO MAKE SOME BEST OUT OF WASTE WHICH IS GENERATED BY THE INDUSTRIES. NOW AFTER HAVING MADE THIS INDUSTRIAL WASTE REUSABLE AFTER APPLYING THEIR KNOWLEDGE,SKILL,HOURS OF HARD WORK & ABOVE ALL LACS OF RUPEES OF INDIAN GOVT.THEY SIMPLY SIT ON THEIR SO CALLED TECHNOLOGY FOR YEARS WITHOUT ANY PURPOSE OR APPLICATION BY DEMANDING UNREALISTIC FEES FROM ENTERPRENUERS LIKE US WHO APPROACH THEM & WHO R WILLING TO TAKE THE RISK OF INVESTING LACS OF RUPEES ONLY ON THE WORD OR VERBAL ASSURANCES GIVEN BY THESE OFFICIALS.HOW FAR IS THIS FAIR?

SIR I HAVE APPROACHED BOTH THESE INSTITUTIONS FOR TECHNOLOGIES OF R-WOOD WHICH IS CLAIMED TO BE "SUBSTITUTE FOR WOOD" IN PERSON & FOR "WATER PROOF GYPSUM PLASTER" VIA TELEPHONE,BUT SADLY I HAVE TO SAY THAT THEY HAVE REDICULOUSLY DEMANDED FEES IN THE RANGE OF 8 TO 10 LACS IN THE NAME OF TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER, WHEREAS "BMTPC" WHICH IS ALSO FUNDED BY GOI AGREED TO CHARGE HARDLY 10 TO 20 THOUSAND FOR THE TRANSFER OF TECHNOLOGY OF "CLC BLOCKS".

PL. GUIDE ME OR HELP ME IN THIS MATTER. I M REALLY INTERESTED IN ABOVE MENTIONED 2 TECHNOLOGIES VIZ. R-WOOD & WATER PROOF GYPSUM PLASTER.



UNNAT N ATHAVALE / BAKUL PATEL

9328962451,9173345797 / 9227929690
C/O. SHANTI INDUSTRIES
366/38,KAMAL PARK SOC.,
BHD. MATAWADI,
L.H. ROAD,
VARACHA,SURAT.
GUJARAT.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON “MICROBIAL WORLD: RECENT INNOVATIONS AND FUTURE TRENDS” , November 22-25, KIIT

The Association of Microbiologists of India (AMI) established in 1938 publishes a quarterly journal, “Indian Journal of Microbiology” for the last 45 years and holds a National convention annually at one of the well established centers of microbiology in the country. At present, there are more than 2500 life and annual members and about 400 corporate members of the Association. This conference is planned at KKIT, Bhubaneswar on the 53 annual AMI.


Contact: Dr. Mrutyunjay Suar, Organizing Secretary, 53rd Annual AMI Conference &
Director, School of Biotechnology, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, msbiotek@yahoo.com

International conference on advances in biotechnology and patenting (ICABP -2013),February 18 –21, 2013 at Bharathidasan University

Department of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering along with School of Chemistry is jointly organizing this international conference. To read more: http://icabp2013.webnode.com/

Contact : Organizing Secretary (icabp-2013), Dr. S.Sivaramakrishnan, Assistant Professor

Department of Biotechnology, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli - 620 024, Tamil Nadu
India, Ph 09894269100

World Inventor Award Festival (WIAF) 2012 to be held on 15 DEC 2012 in Seoul, Korea

Established and directed by Korea Invention News, the award festival has put its focus on the importance of inventors behind intellectual property and innovative inventions for the advancement of worldwide industries and their national competitiveness. As well, discovering the valuable inventors who, in applying their technical, scientific and intellectual skills, have made major contributions as inventors to technological impact, economic growth and improvement in people’s daily life and society, giving the recognitions they deserve for their outstanding career of achievements and dedications with this year’s World Inventor Award Festival where the granted awards reflect their success and set sail as inventor exemplars, encouraging the future generation of inventors across the globe.

2012 AWARDS: 61 Inventor Orders of Merit to be presented in which each of them are singularly entitled from 16 different Merit Divisions & Foreign Special Awards at the WIAF 2012 award festival (ceremony) held on December 15 in Seoul, Korea.

Registration for Contest: FREE OF CHARGE (free document registration for entry in the competition!!)

Registration BY EMAIL : SUBMIT Registration Form to --> kinews@hanmail.net

Contact (English):

Moonsuk Chang

Director of International Co-operation

moonsukchang@hotmail.com |  +1 226 808 1468 

Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme to offset disability and attract investments in Electronics Systems Design and Manufacturing Industries (M-SIPS)

The Union Cabinet approved the proposal of Dept of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) to provide a special incentive package to promote large-scale manufacturing in the Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector. The scheme is called the Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (M-SIPS). The main features of M-SIPS are as follows:

(i)           The scheme provides subsidy for investments in capital expenditure - 20% for investments in SEZs and 25% in non-SEZs. It also provides for reimbursement of CVD/excise for capital equipment for the non-SEZ units. For high technology and high capital investment units, like fabs, reimbursement of central taxes and duties is also provided.

(ii)          The incentives are available for investments made in a project within a period of 10 years from the date of approval.

(iii)       The incentives are available for 29 category of ESDM products including telecom, IT hardware, consumer electronics, medical electronics, automotive electronics, solar photovoltaic, LEDs, LCDs, strategic electronics, avionics, industrial electronics, nano-electronics, semiconductor chips and chip components, other electronic components and EMS. Units across the value chain starting from raw materials including assembly, testing, packaging and accessories of these category of products are included. The scheme also provides incentives for relocation of units from abroad.

(iv)        The scheme is open for three years from notification.

          Approvals for incentives not exceeding Rs. 10,000 crores will  be granted during the XII Plan period. The projects with incentives of Rs 10,000 crores have potential to create employment for nearly 0.5 million persons. The policy is expected to create an indigenous manufacturing eco-system for electronics in the country. It will foster the manufacturing of indigenously designed and manufactured chips creating a more cyber secure ecosystem in the country. It will enable India to tap on the great economic potential that this knowledge sector offers. The increased development and manufacturing in the sector will lead to greater economic growth through more manufacturing and consequently greater employment in the sector.

Innovator Suresh Chawla

Innovator Suresh Chawla is in the news with his floating stone video. See his creative output of 12 technologies at http://www.sureshchawla.com/index.html

Indian government to promote electronic manufacturing clusters with grants of Rs 50 crores

Union cabinet approved proposal of Dept of Electronics and Information Technology to promote Electronic Manufacturin Clusters with grant upto Rs 50 crores.

The proposed EMCs scheme would support setting up of both Greenfield and Brownfield clusters. "These EMCs would aid the growth of the electronics systems design and manufacturing (ESDM) sector, help development of entrepreneurial ecosystem, drive innovation and catalyse the economic growth of the region by increasing employment opportunities and tax revenues," the government stated in its release.

The scheme is also expected to help flow of investment for the development of world-class infrastructure specifically targeted towards attracting investment in the ESDM sector. Under the scheme, the assistance would be provided to a special purpose vehicle (SPV). The SPV may be promoted by private companies, industry associations, financial institutions, R&D institutions, state or local governments or their agencies and units within the EMC. The SPV should consider including an academic/research institution to be part of the proposed SPV for suitable academic-industry linkages.

The financial assistance to the SPV shall be in the form of grant-in-aid only. For Greenfield EMCs the assistance will be restricted to 50 per cent of the project cost subject to a ceiling of Rs.50 crore for every 100 acre of land. For Brownfield EMCs the assistance will be restricted to 75 per cent of the project cost subject to a ceiling of Rs.50 crore.

Conference on Innovation and New Product Development, Mumbai, 5-7 September, 2012

Indian Innovators Association (IIA) is pleased to partner together with Marcus Evans for an event in Mumbai on Innovation and New Product Development.

Date:          5-7 September 2012

Venue:       Novotel Mumbai Juhu Beach, India

Time:          9.00am – 5.30pm

Organiser: Marcus Evans

This interactive conference will offer the latest views and insights by highly rated speakers in the fields of Innovation, R&D and marketing, as well as providing invaluable networking opportunity for professionals and key decision makers from leading organizations.

The event also features key topics on Innovation in Emerging Markets, Frugal Innovation to Mass Market, Open Innovation, Establishing a Proactive and Sustainable Innovation Culture, Disruptive Innovation and afew innovation case studies in demonstrating what and how they have achieved in their product development, lessons learned, and future outlook.

Please click here for event details and list of key speakers. Marcus Evans and IIA are pleased to offer IIA members with 10% discount on the event fees. 

For further inquiries and registration, please email Catherine Foo at catherinef@marcusevanskl.com or call +91-22 4231 7750. 

IvyCap ventures raise Rs 105 crores of funds.

IvyCap Ventures Trust Fund is a SEBI registered fund and has been set up as India's first Venture Capital Fund focused on entrepreneurs with professional backgrounds from premier educational institutions of India such as the IITs and IIMs. It is also the first fund to have a "Give Back" of a share of profits to the Alma Maters of investors on their behalf. The Give Back will come from the Fund Manager’s share of profits, and is aimed at creating an entrepreneurship culture in institutes.

This Fund is anchored by “IIT Alumni Trust” and has a minimum target size of Rs 200 crores with a strategy to prioritize early and growth stage investments in our high growth and core sectors such as Healthcare, Energy, Food/Agriculture based businesses, Technology.

Significant highlights of the Fund are as follows:

    Five financial institutions including three large Nationalized banks, a large Financial institution and a Government department have made a combined commitment of Rs. 65 Cr already in the Fund. IIT Alumni Trust is the anchor investor and has committed Rs. 40 Cr in the Fund. The Fund’s first closing has just been completed in June, 2012 at an aggregate amount of Rs. 105 Cr.

Contact: 

Vikram Gupta

Founder and Managing Partner

IvyCap Ventures

2nd Floor, Wing-B, Supreme Business Park,

Hiranandani Gardens, Powai

Mumbai - 400076

Phone:  +91-22-39530567(B),  +91-22-39379860(D)

Fax: +91-22-39530600

Mobile:  +91-9987060061

Harsh Mariwala starts Ascent to fund enterprises to scale up

ASCENT(Accelerating The SCaling up Of ENTerprises) ia new idea of Harsh Mariwala. Ten entrepreneurs will Form trust groups and support each other as self help groups. Applications are accepted now.http://www.ascentfoundation.in/

Indian innovators association USA charter

We have received useful suggestions on the priority areas for the proposed charter of IIA in USA. The emerging outline is : The local charter will operate as not for profit body. Objective is to support independent innovators in new product development, patent trading and team formation. The body would work in the people to people partnership area. The USA charter would be managed by local members with complete financial autonomy. Welcome More suggestions.

CIIE Present "The Power of Ideas" 2012"

The Economic Times, Department of   Science and  Technology and CIIE have once again partnered to continue   the efforts of  strengthening the Indian start up ecosystem. The  program aspires to identify and support the most innovative idea   and early  stage enterprises and support them through mentoring,   incubation support, cash  awards and seed funding. This year the corpus   of the program has been  increased to a total of INR 6.2 crore with 4   crore marked for seed funding and  INR 2.2 crore to be disbursed as cash  awards.  The program is sector agnostic  and hence wide variety of   start ups (including non tech start ups) can benefit  from it. 

To know more  about the programme: www.ideas.economictimes.com
To  participate in the programme, www.ideas.economictimes.com/participate. 
The deadline for submission of the  Business Summary Format is June 25, 6pm.
To know about  the eligibility requirements to be part of the evaluation or mentoring panel,  please drop a mail to Tinaj@iimahd.ernet.in. , Tina Jobanputra,  Program  Manager, CIIE

Queries:  If you have a specific query/feedback about the programme, share it with : 
Economic Times: etideas@indiatimes.com
CIIE : poi2012@ciieindia.org


   

CSIR plans to set up `Institute of synthetic and systems biology'

As per reports, DG, CSIR informed press of plans to set up a new institute called 'the Institute of synthetic and systems biology" and is looking for a suitable place.It aims to minimize or replace medication with right kind of foods by dipping into the vast traditional Indian knowledge systems. Apart from taking a hard look at regional food consumption patterns, the institute will drive home the importance of micro-nutrients in promoting health. “There is ample bacteria in the gut and the scientists are now trying to understand the foods that will help design bacteria within the human body to control many diseases. There are a number of nutritional pathways. Researchers are viewing the foods specific to each state and their genetic impact on people of those region,” said Prof. Brahmachari and added that this is where Systems Biology comes into the picture where the science of metabolites and haemostatic functions can be modified in the body itself.

Why MNC semiconductor firms cannot compete with Chinese Fabless chip vendors?

Vincent Tai boldly predicts that the days for multinational chip companies are numbered, especially in the Chinese mobile handset and set-top box markets. "It's because the supply chain in China can't allow you to have a 50 per cent gross margin," he explained. When the entire ecosystem of foundries, design houses along with packaging and system OEMs resides here, "You need to be a local to play the game," said Tai. The RDA chief described four rules for surviving in the Chinese market:

Rule #1: The "cycle time" for Chinese handset manufacturers is extremely short. While takes six months (or a year in the case of Nokia) to design a new mobile handset outside China, Chinese cell phone makers are spinning out new models every three months.

Rule #2: Chinese handset vendors provide chip suppliers will little information about market demand. Therefore, chip suppliers need to be "in touch with the market," said Tai, so they can be ready when market demand spikes. Speed is the key. "You need to be able to live with the ups and downs on the China market," he said.

Rule #3: Chip makers must survive on lower gross margins. Many local chip companies can live with a 35 per cent gross margin in order to achieve a 20 per cent operating margin, said Tai. But for most multinational chip companies to achieve the same 20 per cent operating margin, they need a 50 to 55 per cent gross margin. "That's no match with the locals."

Rule #4: System vendors in China are less technical. Hence, they require more hand-holding. The success of Taiwan's MediaTek here can be attributed to the turnkey solutions it offers Chinese system companies.

Tai said multinational companies retain a model that requires100 engineers to develop a new system every six months. "We are seeing Chinese system guys pump out a new product every three months with just five to 10 people." Tai said, "That's very disruptive."

Foreign companies are not only slow to upgrade their products but also are slow to respond to customer complaints. "I can send someone to my customer's site right away and do quick diagnostics," he said. "A multinational's core R&D team is still in the United States, and it takes more than a few e-mails back and forth to solve problems." Many in the West focus on the cost advantages of Chinese companies. Instead, they should be focusing on the agility of Chinese chip vendors and system companies in their domestic market. As Tai noted, "I am local. I have a core R&D team here, and I have field application engineers here. I have a huge advantage" over multinationals.

RDA increased its annual revenue in 2011 by 51.1 per cent to a record Rs.1,512.57 crore ($288.9 million), compared to Rs.1,001.05 crore ($191.2 million) in the previous year. The company's gross margin was 34.5 per cent compared to 29.8 per cent in 2010. In the first quarter in 2012, RDA's revenues totalled Rs.376.96 crore ($72 million), with a gross margin of at 35.9 per cent and a 20 per cent operating margin. The company has Rs.748.69 crore ($143 million) in cash and no debt. It currently employs 320 workers.

Source:  Junko Yoshida,   EE Times

Innovation in Indian Manufacturing- report by Aranca

The report prepared by Aranca for IBEF can be downloaded from IBEF site. 
This report was possibly commissioned to showcase India's innovations to the world. The report cites innovations such as E-Choupal, Ambuja Cements split-plants, Scorpio, TPM award for Brakes India, poly centric innovation model of Bicon, Chotukool, Tata Nano . 
I wonder whether this sort of report would improve perceptions of India's innovation capability! 

India bets big on Rajesh Biniwale' patent WO/2012/014225A2

According to reports, ministry of new and renewable energy ( MNRE) with goal of bringing one million fuel cell powered vehicles on the road by 2020 is supporting National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) in developing a patented process of safe storage, transport and supply of hydrogen for such vehicles. The patent claim no 1:

An improved process for delivery of hydrogen, the process comprising dehydrogenating hydrogenated liquid organic compounds using catalyst in dehydrogenation reactor, the catalyst being heated at temperature in the range of 120-400°C, followed by separating hydrogen being evolved by cooling to temperature in the range of 2-50°C to obtain hydrogen free from any contaminant, wherein the catalyst are selected from: i. M/support wherein metal M is at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Pt, Pd, Rh, Ru, Ir, Os and said metal dispersed on support, the support is at least one metal oxide selected from the group consisting of Y₂0₃ or V₂0₅ or combinations thereof or ; ii. M-M'/support wherein metal M is at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Cu, Ag, Au; metal M' is at least one metal selected from Pt, Pd, Rh, Ru, Ir, Os, Fe, Ni, Re, Mo, W, V, Cr, Co or combinations thereof and said metals dispersed on support, the support being selected from the group consisting of activated carbon, alumina, alumite, zirconia, silica or combination thereof.

Position of TTO in The Universities for Research and Innovation Bill 2012

US is presently debating on doing away with a mandatory TTO in universities. Prior to Bayh-Dole, the invention rights vested with the federal government. The Bayh-Dole Act, allowed universities and small companies to own and manage inventions they make with federal funds. University Technology Transfer Offices played a pivotal role in commercializing the patents. Now, Kauffman Foundation proposed Start-up Act says TTO had become bottleneck and recommends that decisions  to commercialize technologies should be taken by faculty inventors and not university bureaucracies (TTO).

The bill in parliament is silent on structure of this relationship between faculty innovators- TTO-licensees. Is it left to universities to decide as part of autonomy?