European Commission’s Draft Standard Essential Patents Regulation

 The draft regulation foresees (1) the establishment and maintenance of an electronic register and database for SEPs; (2) the establishment and administration of a system for assessing the essentiality of SEPs; (3) the creation and administration of a process for FRAND determination and (4) the administration of a system for an aggregate royalty rate determination. All of this is to be administered by the EUIPO, the European Union Intellectual Property Office.

Global FRAND rate setting- UK and China moved for an early mover advantage, now EU wants to step in.

Download report:  https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/publications/com2023232-proposal-regulation-standard-essential-patents_en

National Manufacturing Innovation Survey 2021- India

 

The 3-year effort produced 6 reports and a comprehensive overivew is captured in the #NMIS 'Summary for Policymakers'. Download reports: https://lnkd.in/gpa8weDZ

Conclusions:

• Innovation performance (output) lags behind presence of enablers and absence of barriers (input)
• Presence of enablers has greater impact on performance than the absence of barriers
• Innovation is beneficial to business success in manufacturing
• At least 70 percent of the firms are innovation-inactive
• Aspiration for topline growth drives innovation, but it could also be at odds with innovation 
• Activities exclusively focused on innovation correlate to higher innovation success 
• Firms with more than basic innovation capabilities demonstrate higher success in innovation.
•  Basic ecosystem enablers are essential but insufficient on their own to help firms increase their ability to innovate.
• Finance is the most cited barrier to innovation in Indian manufacturing
• Frequencies of innovation barriers differ by region in India

The report recommended  ‘Innovate to Make in India’ as a manufacturing innovation strategy'. The survey findings demonstrate that despite proven business benefits, manufacturing firms showed high-risk aversion and limited entrepreneurial appetite to engage with innovation. Predominantly, it was observed that firms were responding to the immediate demands in the market, instead of competing for new products that are needed to compete in the future. In this context, a long-term manufacturing innovation strategy is critically urgent. Thus, to make innovation a priority for manufacturing firms, a concrete step forward would be to complement the ‘Make in India’ with an “Innovate to Make in India” strategy. This may then include broad based awareness, promotional measures and investment incentives, along with sectoral sub-strategies with concrete innovation targets or roadmaps.

Report: http://www.nstmis-dst.org/NMIS/assets/pdf/Assessment%20of%20Firm-Level%20Innovation%20in%20Indian%20Manufacturing.pdf

India releases Water Body census

 Highlights:

• The photograph of the water bodies along with the latitude and longitude was captured by a mobile app developed for this purpose.  
• 24,24,540 water bodies have been enumerated in the country, out of which 97.1% (23,55,055) are in rural areas and only 2.9% (69,485) are in urban areas. 
• 59.5% (14,42,993) of water bodies are ponds, followed by tanks (15.7%, i.e 3,81,805), reservoirs (12.1%, i.e 2,92,280), Water conservation schemes/percolation tanks/check dams (9.3%, i.e 2,26,217), lakes (0.9%, i.e 22,361) and others (2.5%, i.e 58,884).
• West Bengal has highest number of ponds & reservoirs, whereas Andhra Pradesh has highest number of tanks, Tamil Nadu has highest number of lakes and Maharashtra is the leading state for water conservation scheme. 
• A major proportion of water bodies i.e., 83.7% (20,30,040) are in use whereas remaining 16.3% (3,94,500) are not in use on account of drying up, construction, siltation, destroyed beyond repair, salinity and other reasons. 
• Most of the water bodies are used in pisciculture, followed by irrigation, ground water recharge and domestic/drinking purpose. 

Read the report: https://cdnbbsr.s3waas.gov.in/s3a70dc40477bc2adceef4d2c90f47eb82/uploads/2023/04/2023040672.pdf

Indian Space Policy 2023

 The policy outlines scope for Non Government Entities:

NGEs would be encouraged to: 1. offer national and international space-based communication services, through self-owned or procured or leased GSO/NGSO communication satellites. 2. establish and operate ground facilities for space objects operations, such as TT&C Earth Stations and Satellite Control Centres (SCCs). 3. use Indian Orbital Resources and/or Non-Indian Orbital Resources to establish space objects for communication services over India and outside India. 4. make new ITU filings through the WPC/DOT to acquire Orbital Resources. NGEs are free to make ITU filings through non-Indian administrations also. 5. establish and operate remote sensing satellite systems within and outside India through selfowned or procured or leased satellites. 6. disseminate satellite-based remote sensing data, as well as applications based on such data, in India and/or outside. 7. develop and commercialise technologies and applications for enhancing and augmenting the satellite navigation, communication and remote-sensing developed and provided by the Government. 8. manufacture and operate space transportation systems, including launch vehicles, shuttles, etc., as well as design and develop reusable, recoverable and reconfigurable technologies and systems for space transportation. 9. establish and operate launch infrastructure. 10. develop space situational awareness capabilities for enhancing observation, modelling and analysis. 11. undertake research, innovation and technology development for long-term sustainability of space activities. 12. provide end-to-end services for safe operations and maintenance in space. 13. engage in the commercial recovery of an asteroid resource or a space resource. Any NGE engaged in such process shall be entitled to possess, own, transport, use, and sell any such asteroid resource or space resource obtained in accordance with applicable law, including the international obligations of India. 14. undertake any other IN-SPACe prescribed commercial space activity. 

Source:https://www.isro.gov.in/media_isro/pdf/IndianSpacePolicy2023.pdf

 

Corporate innovation and Board Directors qualification- paper about IITian Directors from India

 Indian industry spending on R&D and Innovation is low. Is risk taking related to Board Directors qualification? If majority of board members have degrees from IITs, does that improve innovation quotient? This paper addresses this issue.

Findings- 

We could infer from this outcome that simply having an IIT-Bachelor’s degree is important. However, to ignite the innovation potential of a firm and put maximum effort towards it, the directors would require a research degree like PhDs. Research degree over IIT-Bachelor’s would unlock those IIT bachelor directors' research mindset and abilities and provide the research aptitude/experience to carry out R&D. 

Read:  https://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/wppdf/2023/wp2023-014.pdf

JUST ASPIRE - Inspiring Story of the Father of Indian Hardware, Ajai Chowdhry

Indian farmers adoption of farming practices to mitigate climate change

 Climate change is adversely affecting the Indian agricultural sector. Farmers’ perceptions of and adaptation to the rapidly changing climatic conditions are considered crucial policy measures to combat these adversities. In this context, the present study systematically reviews the literature on farmers’ perception and adaptation in India, drawing mainly from Scopus and Web of Science. Results show that majority of the Indian farmers have perceived a rise in temperature, erratic and decreased rainfall which is consistent with the meteorological data. Indian farmers seem to have adopted a wide range of adaptation measures that are mostly incremental and systemic. Transformational adaptations in the form of substantial changes in land use, resource and labor allocations, occupational pattern, and cropping systems are also increasingly found to be adopted by farmers. However, the literature does not substantially confirm that farmers’ adaptation measures result from their perception of climate change. Lack of access to sufficient information and adequate credit at the right time, household income, farm size, gender, and resource endowment, among others, frequently influences the adoption of adaptation measures. To avoid maladaptive outcomes and achieve long-term sustainability, the study suggests a need for large-scale investments in the Indian farming sector in general and building farmers’ capacity in particular. In addition, adopting an integrated approach for assessing farmers’ perception of and adaptation to changing climatic conditions and their outcomes is essential for effective policymaking towards achieving food security and farmers’ wellbeing.

Download paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667010022001007

India Government notifies rules on online gaming.

 

These amendments layout a comprehensive framework for Online Gaming Eco-system and also deals with Fact checking related to online content pertaining to Government. These rules address the twin challenges of catalyzing and expanding online gaming innovation and at the same time protecting citizens from illegal betting and wagering online. Rules will be catalyst for expanding innovation, while banning/prohibiting wagering on outcome of games and betting. Rules will ensure that Online games or sites that involve wagering will be banned completely including advertising or any time of presence. Industry participating SROs will be core of the enabling framework which will certify permissible Online games. Stakeholder participative SROs to determine permissible online games; Safety of Gamers including Children to be addressed. Under the Rules, MEITY to also notify agency to factcheck false & misleading information related to Govt business.

Download notification.

RICH Impact report (2022)

 

RICH (Research and Innovation Circle of Hyderabad) is a Government of Telangana initiative and the Hyderabad Science & Technology Cluster under the Office of Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, RICH serves as a strategic convenor, fostering collaboration among academic & research institutions, industry, entrepreneurs, start-ups to enable transformation of scientific research into impactful solutions that generate jobs, wealth and social good. RICH works in three verticals - Food and Agriculture, Lifesciences, and Sustainability. To date, RICH have collaborated with over 250 start-ups and established a network of more than 30 R&D organisations to support start-ups. It is also part of a thriving ecosystem that includes over 75 incubators and accelerators in Telangana.

Download impact report:

https://rich.telangana.gov.in/assets/pdfs/Impact-Reports/RICHC_Impact_Report_Jan_2020-2022.pdf

who is leading the critical technology race?

ASPI’s Critical Technology Tracker: the global race for future power – can be found on ASPI’s website here. 

ASPI research reveals that China has built the foundations to position itself as the world’s leading science and technology superpower, by establishing a sometimes stunning lead in high-impact research across the majority of critical and emerging technology domains. China’s global lead extends to 37 out of 44 technologies that ASPI is now tracking, covering  a range of crucial technology fields spanning defence, space, robotics, energy, the environment, biotechnology, artificial intelligence (AI), advanced materials and key quantum technology areas. The Critical Tech Tracker shows that, for some technologies, all of the world’s top 10 leading research institutions are based in China and are collectively generating nine times more high-impact research papers than the second-ranked country (most often the US). China’s technology lead is a product of deliberate design and long-term policy planning, as repeatedly outlined by Xi Jinping and his predecessors. We also see China’s efforts being bolstered through talent and knowledge import: one-fifth of its high-impact papers are being authored by researchers with postgraduate training in a Five-Eyes country.

The US comes second in the majority of the 44 technologies examined in the Critical Tech Tracker. The US currently leads in areas such as high performance computing, quantum computing and vaccines. Our dataset reveals that there’s a large gap between China and the US, as the leading two countries, and everyone else. The data then indicates a small, second-tier group of countries led by India and the UK: other countries that regularly appear in this group—in many technological fields—include South Korea, Germany, Australia, Italy, and less often, Japan.

Macroeconomic Effects of Public R&D-IIPP

Abstract: The direct public funding of R&D investment to stimulate technological innovation has a strong theoretical case and has gained renewed attention in the recent policy debate as a way to address the long-term challenges of modern society such as pandemics, climate change, and the transition to a low-carbon economy. We estimate the dynamic macroeconomic effects of government R&D investment and we find that it is very effective in fostering the total national innovation effort, crowding in private R&D investment, and in raising aggregate output in the long run. We also find that the public stimulus goes beyond private R&D activities and involves a very strong expansion of overall economic activity since the early periods. Finally, we uncover a strong positive impact of the private sector’s anticipation of public R&D spending, which can be interpreted as a confirmation of the importance of managing expectations to reduce the uncertainty inherent to R&D activities.

Paper: De Lipsis, V., Deleidi, M., Mazzucato, M. and Agnolucci, P. (2023) Macroeconomic Effects of Public R&D. UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, Working Paper Series (IIPP WP 2023-02). https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/wp2023-02.

IIT Bombay R&D report 2022

 IITB is India's premier academic institute. Read the IRCC publication highlighting R&D status.

Hope for Mangroves in India

 The MISHTI, ‘Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats & Tangible Incomes,’ comes after India joined the Mangrove Alliance for Climate launched during the 27th Conference of Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Egypt in November 2022. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a new initiative for mangrove plantations along the coastline and on saltpan lands in her budget speech on February 1, 2023. In India, the total mangrove cover is 4,992 square kilometres, according to the 2021 Forest Survey Report (FSR). The country lost 40 per cent of its mangrove cover during the last century.

Read the manual on Mangrove Nursery.

The Future of Farming Robots - 13 High Tech Examples (Compilation)

Startup India 5 years journey

 The government has come out with report card after a 5 year jouney. 

Has India reached the inflection point? The billions of dollars going into startups represent large bets on distant outcomes, not value generation by way of revenues.

Social Stock Exchange (SSE) -India

 On 19 September 2022, SEBI vide a circular No. SEBI/HO/CFD/PoD-1/P/CIR/2022/120 (the Framework), issued a detailed framework prescribing the minimum requirements to be followed by an Not for Profit Organisation (NPO) that desires to be registered/listed on an SSE. The main themes of the Framework are depicted below:

• Registration of a Not for Profit Organisation (NPO)
• Disclosure to be provided by NPOs for raising funds through the issuance of Zero Coupon Zero Principal (ZCZP) Instruments
• Annual disclosures to be provided by an NPOs 
• Disclosures forming part of the Annual Impact Report (AIR) submitted by Social Enterprises (SEs). 
• The circular also prescribes the time limit for submission of statement of utilisation of funds by an NPO.

Access the documet:

https://www.sebi.gov.in/legal/circulars/sep-2022/framework-on-social-stock-exchange_63053.html

Setting up and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India- feedback on draft invited.

University Grants Commission (UGC) invites comments/ suggestions/ feedback on draft University Grants Commission (Setting up and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India) Regulations, 2023

Deadline: January 18, 2023

Eligibility:

• If the applicant is a foreign university, it should have secured a position within the top 500 of overall / subject-wise global rankings, as decided by the Commission from time to time;
• The campus of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions may evolve their admission process and criteria to admit domestic and foreign students.
• The Foreign Higher Educational Institutions shall have the autonomy to recruit faculty and staff from India and abroad as per its recruitment norms. 6.2.It may decide the qualifications, salary structure, and other conditions of service for appointing faculty and staff. However, the FHEI shall ensure that the qualifications of the faculty appointed shall be at par with the main campus of the country of origin. 6.3.It shall ensure that the foreign faculty appointed to teach at the Indian campus shall stay at the campus in India for a reasonable period.

Read the draft-https://www.ugc.ac.in/pdfnews/9214094_Draft-Setting-up-and-Operation-of-Campuses-of-Foreign-Higher-Educational-Institutions-in-India-Regulations-2023.pdf

Compendium of Technologies available for transfer from IIT Delhi

 

IIT Delhi has filed more than 100 patents each calendar year for the last 5 years in a row , the technology transfer set-up led by Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer, IIT Delhi (FITT) strives to increase licensing deal flows.  In the recently held Industry Day at IIT Delhi, a compendium of IIT Delhi’s technologies was released. In the context that University technologies are generally early stage, this compilation by FITT captures 4 or higher TRL stuff. 

Some areas for Licensing

• Communication
• Environment
• Electric Vehicles
• Energy Management
• Healthcare
• Life Sciences
• Material Sciences
• Motors and Machines
• Power Generation and Disctribution
• Renewable Energy
• Smart Technologies
• Textiles

CII Industrial Innovation Awards 2022

Grand Award- The Most Innovative Company 2022 –Lohum made a breakthrough by launching Metelec™Lithium-ion battery recycling and extraction technology at significantly lower financial and environmental expenses.

Top Innovative Company (Large) in Manufacturing:  Tata Chemicals for High dispersible silica - a patented product.

Top Innovative Company (SME) in Manufacturing: Lohum for their patented Metelec™Lithium-ion battery recycling and extraction technology.

Top Innovative Company (Large) in Service: TATA Elxsi Ltd for Future of Connected TV.

Top Innovative Company (SME) in Service: GPK Logistech Pvt Ltd for StoreMart innovation.

Undem Making biodegradable Low-Density Polythene (LDPE) using thermoplastic starch.

This is followed by IIT Madras.

Top 3 Most Innovative Institute 2022 under the category of Disruptive Innovation goes to Thiagarajar Polytechnic College, Paavai Engineering College and Kumaraguru College of Technology

Top 3 Most Innovative Institute 2022 under the category of Innovation Quotient goes to IIT Roorkee, International Institute of Information Technology and Northern India Textile Research Association.

Top 3 Most Innovative Institute 2022 under Innovation Realisation goes to IIT Madras, IIT Palakkad and Uttaranchal University

 Other companies who secured position in Top Innovative companies are:

-         Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd

-         Bosch Ltd f

-         Uno Minda Ltd

-         Nokia Solutions and Networks India Pvt Ltd

-         Dr Reddy’s Laboratories

-         Tata Steel Ltd

-         Forbes Marshall Pvt Ltd

-         Kone Elevators India

-         Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd

-         Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd

-         Tata Chemicals Ltd

-         Bharat Fritz Werner Ltd

-         Shriram Pistons and Ring Ltd

-         SEG Automotive India Pvt Ltd

-         Thermax Limited

-         National Engineering Industries Ltd

-         Pidilite Industries Ltd

-         Dalmia Cement Bharat Ltd

-         Adani Defence and Aerospace

-         Pricol Ltd

-         Merino Industries

-         Tata Hitachi Construction Machinery

-         Garrett Motion Technologies (India) Pvt. Ltd.

-         Sona BLW Precision Forgings Ltd

-         Nestlé India Ltd.

-         Sterlite Technologies Ltd

-         Fluid Controls Pvt Ltd

-         Polymedicure Ltd

-         Praj Industries Ltd

-         Meteoric Biopharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd.

-         KOHINOOR ELASTICS PVT. LTD.

-         MICROLIT

-         VST Tillers Tractors Ltd.

-         ELICO Ltd.

-         MATRIX COMSEC

-         Lohum

-         Ramelex Pvt Ltd

-         Paques Environmental Technology India Pvt. Ltd.

-         SAHAJANAND TECHNOLOGIES Pvt. Ltd.

-         Avantel Limited

-        GLOBAL ENGINEERS LIMITED 

-        Accenture Solutions Private Limited

-        The TATA Power Company Limited

-        Tata Elxsi

-        CitiusTech

-         Access Healthcare

-         Syngenta Biosciences

-         Bigbasket

-         Adani Transmission Ltd

-         Mercedes Benz Research and Development India (MBRDI)

-         Tsecond Generation Technology Pvt Ltd.

-          IntelliSmart Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd.

-          Plutomen Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

-          Online PSB Loans Limited

-          GPK Logistech Pvt. Ltd

-          Judge India Solutions

-          TMS TECHNOV M SYSTEMS P LIMITED

-          Ekta Telecommunication & Systems

-          Revayu Systems Private Limited

-          Webskitters Technology Solutions Pvt Ltd

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology invites feedback on the draft amendments to the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 in relation to online gaming

 With the user base of online games growing in India, need has been felt to ensure that such games be offered in conformity with Indian laws and that the users of such games be safeguarded against potential harm. Further, with a view to enable consideration of issues related to online gaming in their totality, Government of India has allocated matters related to online gaming to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

The draft amendments envisage that an online gaming intermediary shall observe the due diligence required under the rules while discharging its duties, including reasonable efforts to cause its users not to host, display, upload, publish, transmit or share an online game not in conformity with Indian law, including any law on gambling or betting. Moreover, it shall observe additional due diligence by displaying a registration mark on all online games registered by a self-regulatory body and informing its users regarding its policy related to withdrawal or refund of deposit, manner of determination and distribution of winnings, fees and other charges payable and KYC procedure for user account registration. Self-regulatory bodies will be registered with the Ministry and may register online games of such online gaming intermediaries who are its members and which meet certain criteria. Such bodies will also resolve complaints through a grievance redressal mechanism.

The draft amendments :

 https://www.meity.gov.in/content/draft-amendments-it-intermediary-guidelines-and-digital-media-ethics-code-rules-2021.