Draft `India Data Accessibility and Use’ policy 2022

The draft India Data Accessibility and Use Policy was published on MeitY website on February 21, 2022. Since its publication, MeitY has been receiving several comments and suggestions on the draft policy. It’s also observed that there is a need to bring in some more clarity with regard to some of the clauses in the draft policy so that the objectives of the Data Accessibility policy to enable better services is made amply clear. These clauses will be finalized after getting inputs of stakeholders in the consultation process Accordingly the draft policy document for consultations is being shared here.

The inputs/feedback may be sent to Ms. Kavita Bhatia, Scientist F at the email kbhatia[at]gov[dot]in and pmu [dot] etech [at] meity [dot] gov [dot]in.

The last date of submission for inputs/feedback is March 18, 2022.

NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

To cater next-generation digital manufacturing and mitigate immediate disabilities of local industries, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister of Electronics & Information Technology, Communications & Railways and Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship released “National Strategy on Additive Manufacturing” on 24th February 2022.

Main recommendation was establishment of National Additive Manufacturing Centre and strengthening technology leadership.

Innovation Strategy- India and UK: Wish list Vs Pragmatism

The draft Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy, 2020 is a non-starter as a policy on innovation and went into a limbo. When authorities try to give a new avatar the team can benefit from UK policy paper `UK Innovation Strategy: leading the future by creating it'

A recap of India's draft:

Broad vision- To double the number of Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) researchers, Gross Dimestic Expenditture on R&D (GERD) and private sector contribution to the GERD every 5 years. Open Data Policy for Publicly Funded Research: All data used in and generated from public-funded research will be available to everyone (larger scientific community and public) under FAIR3 (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) terms. Wherever applicable, exceptions will be made on grounds of privacy, national security and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). Transforming existing R&D institutions to research universities. This will foster better linkages between research and education and also enable effective utilization of research infrastructure. Foreign MultiNational Companies (MNCs): Foreign MNCs play an integral role in boosting India’s economy. To gainfully measure and assess the contributions made by foreign MNCs in the STI financing landscape, innovative methods to capture them will be developed. Boosting fiscal incentives for industries investing in STI through incremental R&D based tax incentives, tax credit for investing in facilities for commercialization, tax holidays, tax waivers, target-based tax incentive for specific domains, tax deduction, expatriate tax regimes, remodelling of patent box regime etc. There will be a reassessment of the possibility of reviving weighted deduction provisions (of expenditure incurred on in-house R&D).Flexible mechanism for supplier development programmes for public procurement in all sectors (especially earmarked for Small & Medium Enterprises - SMEs and Start-ups).Reassessment of regulatory control on STI landscape to promote innovative enterprises. It is recommended that the Central Government re-examine and widen the scope of R&D expenditure. Further, the government may determine the right mix of loan, equity and grants to assist Indian industries for technology up-gradation and commercialization. Further, to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in STI, reduction in corporate tax rates for foreign MNCs, fast track clearances, easing land acquisitions, adequate means for incorporating FDI etc. will be explored on a need basis. To undertake efficient governing mechanisms for the STI funding landscape, a national STI Financing Authority will be created.Modification/waiver of General Financial Rules, for large scale mission mode programmes and projects of national importance will be explored. A new model for funding, implementation and monitoring of such programmes will be developed, either as an overarching mechanism or through obtaining cabinet approvals in respect of individual programmes. In addition, certain GFRs will be required to be amended for funding of R&D projects to facilitate ease of doing research.

Summery: A great compilation of wish list. There is something for every stakeholder.  STI Financing Authority , modification/ waiver of GFR are radical proposals in Indian context.

UK Policy paper focus is comparitively narrow, pragmatic and more likely will be acted upon.  They talk of innovation by business which is diffrent from business innovation , favouraite of Unicorns.

Vision is for the UK to be a global hub for innovation. Strategy set out plans against 4 key pillars, which will support the achievement of that vision:

• Pillar 1: Unleashing business – we will fuel businesses who want to innovate
• Pillar 2: People - we will make the UK the most exciting place for innovation talent
• Pillar 3: Institutions and places - we will ensure our research, development and innovation institutions serve the needs of businesses and places across the UK
• Pillar 4: Missions and technologies – we will stimulate innovation to tackle major challenges faced by the UK and the world and drive capability in key technologies

Indian draft is for ease of doing research by government funded researchers of government funded institutes where as thrust of UK policy paper is on innovation by commercial enterprises.

Innovation-public policy interface

Learning from the book: 

Impact of public policy instruments on supply and demand of innovation are conditioned by competition and contagion conditions the firms face. How much competition is appropriate to create an an optimal mix of invention, innovation and diffusion? One study quoted by the author says that an increase in competition leads to a significant increase in R&D investment by `neck and neck’ firms i.e firms that operate at the same technological level.However, increased competition decreases R&D investments by firms that are lagging behind, in particular if the time horizon is short. This explains Indian firms strong R&D in Pharma and weak R&D in electronic sector. Large technology gap discourages innovation efforts in the presence of import based competition.

The contagion effect (imitation potential) increases with large pools (supply) of knowledge to learn from and firms may undertake technological activity to benefit from these contagion effects. Innovative regions like Silicon valley create both competition and contagion effects. Firms in clusters often get locked into specific products and technologies and policies aim at bringing technological dynamism with global value chains. Location of MNC R&D centers in India is not only used for its low cost of operation but also for developing technologies for markets like India. Both for performing R&D and for solving research problems these MNC R&D centres seek more support from their global business units than local units thereby limiting knowledge spill over and contagion effect.

The challenge for the policymakers in the globalized world of open and distributed knowledge networks is the need to identify a policy package that can simultaneously facilitate international linkages for accessing knowledge, incentivize domestic intramural R&D to build absorptive as well as inventive capacity and help create domestic networks for knowledge accumulation and diffusion.

This book by eminent author provides theological inputs and conceptual clarity on contents of my book on `Demand side innovation policy'

UK Innovation Strategy- call of surge in Business led Innovation.

UK Government in its policy document UK Innovation Strategy: leading the future by creating it, terms innovation  as the “lifeblood of business” and sees procurement as a vital component of innovation. The document calls for surge in Buisness led Innovation with focus on public procurement, regulations and standards.

Read the strategy paper to understand how UK is planning to survive divorce from EU.

India has many innovations and they are not jugaad.

Jugaad creations fascinated media, nationalists took affront at India's innovation / patent ranking with the argument that innovations do exist in plenty only they are missed out , while consultants floated a new business line of jugaad/ frugal innovation model. While happy with positive references to India many cautioned on Irrational exuberance on innovation front. Japan developed Technology Absorption model, Korea had Creative Imitaion and China-Secondary innovations as articulated models to move up in the value chain. Once it became clear India needs systematic innovation , India adopted Demand side innovation framework.

Author, Journalist, Dinesh Sharma also takes the view that jugaad is not innovation. He lists 100 innovations, including those in Governance, Public Utilities and Law. In digital age we will be seeing many more innovations in this space.

Buy the book from Amazon

FSSAI’s proposed draft regulations on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) & Engineered Food

 

(Source: Economic Times)

India, at present, does not allow GM food in the country. The FSSAI released the draft regulations in November 2021, proposing that food products or food ingredients derived from GMOs may be sold in the country after obtaining prior approval. It laid down the procedure for prior approval as well as safety assessment and labelling norms. It specified norms that labs will need to adhere for testing GM foods.

 The last date for sending objections or suggestions has been extended till 05.02.2022

Gandhi's call for swadeshi was backed by 100 Indian brands

 

Call for Swadeshi coupled with boycott of imported goods was one of historic movements during the freedom struggle. The foreign goods including clothing, sugar, salt and various other luxury items were not only boycotted, but they were also burned.A similar call- Atmanirbhar in free India did not move people. One reason is availability of substitutes- soaps, beauty products, biscuits, tonics etc. Now, Electronic imports are major concern but call for Atmanirbhar has not seen any frenzied activity like boycotting Chinese products by middle class consumers.

Ramya Ramamurthy captures stories of various Indian brands , promoted by industrialists and freedom fighters during per-independence period. 

Vision Document for the electronics sector today, titled “$300 bn Sustainable Electronics Manufacturing & Exports by 2026

 

Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, in association with ICEA, released a 5-year roadmap and Vision Document for the electronics sector today, titled “$300 bn Sustainable Electronics Manufacturing & Exports by 2026.” This roadmap is the second volume of a two-part Vision Document – the first of which titled “Increasing India’s Electronics Exports and Share in GVCs” was released in November 2021. This report provides a year-wise break-up and production projections for the various products that will lead India’s transformation into a US$300 billion electronics manufacturing powerhouse, from the current US$75 billion. Amongst the key products that are expected to lead India’s growth in electronics manufacturing include Mobile Phones, IT Hardware (laptops, tablets), Consumer electronics (TV and audio), Industrial electronics, Auto electronics, Electronic components, LED Lighting, Strategic electronics, PCBA, Wearables and hearables, and Telecom equipment. Mobile manufacturing that is expected to cross US$100 billion annual production - up from the current US$30 billion - is expected to constitute nearly 40% of this ambitious growth.

 Scale up of domestic manufacture by 2.2X in 5 years appear realistic with PLI schemes but can India increase exports by 10.3X in 5 years?

Revised Consolidated Guidelines & Standards for Charging Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles (EV) Promulgated) Promulgated by Ministry of Power

 

The Union Ministry of Power has promulgated the revised consolidated Guidelines & Standards for Charging Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles (EV) on 14th January,2022. The objective is to enable a faster adoption of electric vehicles in India by ensuring safe, reliable, accessible and affordable Charging Infrastructure and eco-system. This would also promote energy security and reduction of emission intensity of the country by promotion of entire EV ecosystem.

These guidelines are exhaustive and include provisions for a) individual owners of Electric Vehicles: b) for Public Charging Stations (PCS). In a significant step, Owners may charge their Electric Vehicles at their residence/offices using their existing electricity connections.  Infrastructure requirements for Public Charging Infrastructure as well as for Public Charging Infrastructure for long range EVs and/or heavy duty EVs have been outlined.

Any individual/entity is free to set up public charging stations without the requirement of a license provided that, such stations meet the technical, safety as well as performance standards and protocols laid down  under the guidelines as well as norms/ standards/ specifications laid down by Ministry of Power, Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) and Central Electricity Authority (CEA) from time to time. An exhaustive list of compliance requirements for Public Charging Station (PCS) have also been outlined. These include norms for “appropriate” infrastructure  for civil, electricity and safety requirements .

Technology agnostic Charging Standards: The guidelines have been made further technology agnostic by providing for not only the prevailing international charging standards available in the market but also the new Indian charging standards.

Journey of an innovator from Innovation fair onwards

Indian Innovators Association (IIA) organised GYSC ( Global Young Scientists Challenge ) in 2018 at Visakhapatnam. Saif Seas exibited their rescuse device.  Inventor Alisgar Calcuttawala explained their innovation to AP Innovation Society and other visitors. The startup is mentored by IIA founder member GV Ramana. The startup is now a reliable supplier to Indian navy and others.

CII Industrial Innovation Awards 2021

Every year CII selects top 25 innovative companies and winners in different catagories. For assessment Enterprise Innovation Maturity Model is used. This year winners include Tata Steel and Wipro assessed by me. Tata Steel has 506 patents with R&D strength of 280 which includes 68 with PhD working in 7 Technoology Leadership Areas. The firm fine tuned processes to optimise utilisation of low quality raw materials,  adopt technology to capture Co2 from flue gas and bet huge on Graphine with 45 patents. WIPRO's huge learning platform  is based on challenge architecture , IP gateway, Pragati portal and open innoavation. Every year some of the challenges get funded to scale up to pilot. The firm is one of the few that works both on software and hardware. 

Anuradha attempts to fill great void in the Telugu people history- their journey to South East Asia

Telugu is one of classical languages of India , Battiprolu eddit is dated back to 400 BCE. Telugu langauge characher is unique with consonent modifiers and vowel modifiers. Despite the long history, very little is known about Telugus's history in textbooks sparring reference to Acharya Nagarjuna and Satavahana period. 

Journalist Anuradha travelled to SriLanka, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and narrates story of telugu people's journey to these distance lands in the form of a fictional story. 

Buy the book: https://www.telugubooks.in/products/jagamunelina-telugu

50 Global Hubs for Top AI Talent - Bangalore is in top 5.

In this article, HBR highlights the 50 cities with the largest AI talent pools worldwide and evaluate them using a framework that we have developed at Digital Planet: TIDE (for Talent pool; Investments; Diversity of talent; Evolution of the country’s digital foundations). These factors collectively give companies a way to prioritize their AI talent sourcing choices by scoring the different locations on the concentration, quality and diversity of the AI talent pool. The diversity measure combines several factors: the proportion of female AI workers, racial diversity and migrant acceptance along with the cost of living in a city. 

pepsi potato patent and Gujarat farmers

Pepsi got an USA patent for potato cultivator 2027. IP protection granted in USA under Patents and Plant Variety Protection (PVPA).  In India patent protection is not available but Plant Variety Protection avaiable. Pepsi registered this 2027 variety in 2016 and promptly sued farmers in Gujarat growing this without license. 

Now, Plant Varieties & Farmers' Rights (PPV&FR) Authority, rules Pepsi registration under Plant Variety Protection as invalid.

More information: www.motguru.com

World’s First COVID-19 DNA vaccine developed in partnership with DBT-BIRAC under Mission COVID Suraksha

 

The ZyCoV-D is the world’s first and India’s indigenously developed
DNA based vaccine for COVID-19 to be administered in humans
including children and adults 12 years and above. This vaccine has
been developed in partnership with the Department of Biotechnology
(DBT), Government of India under the ‘Mission COVID Suraksha’ and
implemented by BIRAC, a PSU of DBT. This 3 dose vaccine which when injected produces the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and elicits an immune response, which plays a  vital role in protection from disease as well as viral clearance.Vaccine Technology Centre (VTC), vaccine research centre of the
Zydus group, Translational Health Science and Technology Institute
(THSTI), an autonomous institute of the DBT and Interactive Research
School for Health Affairs (IRSHA), Pune, GCLP Lab set up under the
DBT- National Biopharma Mission (NBM) also played a vital role in this
success story. The plug and play technology on which the plasmid DNA platform is based can be easily adapted to deal with mutations in the virus, such as those already occurring.

Read about the amazing journey: DBT publication

Technologies on offer from ICMR

 

ICMR regularly posts technologies available from its institutes for collaboration with Industry.

Patents 2020

WIPO report analyzes IP activity around the globe. Drawing on 2020 filing, registration and renewals statistics from national and regional IP offices. India received 56,771 patent applications, ot of which 23,141 were from India, 10,478 from USA, 4826 from Japan, 3775 from China, 2682 from Korea and 2525 from Japan.Resident grants for India grew by 5.5% whereas that of non-residents grew at 6.3%. Non-Resident share of patents granted by Indian Patent Office were pegged at 81.1%. The situation was different for Industrial Designs where out of 12,793, resident applicants were 8962 and non-residents 3,831.India does not grant utility patents and is not a member of International Union for Protection of New Variety of Plants. Publishing industry data covered under Creative Economy do not have Indian data.

Institutions that shaped modern India- DRDO

Ravi kumar Gupta , the author, served at DRDO as a DRDS Scientist for over 35 years and superannuated in May 2015 as Scientist G and Director Public Interface at the DRDO headquarters. The book was written with the aim of presenting a holistic picture , the manner and scenario under which it was formed , its visionary leaders, the eventful journey and how it shaped the defence infrastructure and ecosystem in the country.

Catching up:

Development in weapon system in advanced countries have been invariably driven by innovativeness of their defence scientists and the ability of such scientists to think well beyond the existing systems and technologies. Here, in India, TDE ( Technical Development Establishments , earlier called Inspectorates) and others insisted that development work by the DRDO should be taken up for only after the services had laid their requirements in the form of Qualitative Requirements/ Operational Requirements (Qrs/Ors). The Qrs/Ors were invariably based on the products already available abroad.

Technology Transfer

Import and produce under license is a powerful lobby favouring big ticket imports and killing all local efforts to develop technologies. Air guided anti tank missile was one early example. Initial goal post was range of 1.5km, when that was reached, QRs increased operating range to 4km and finally product imported from France. Myth of Technology transfer resulted in component to component development with no design capability.

Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP)

The appointment of DR VS Arunachalam as the SA to RM and Secretary DDR&D in 1982 was the turning point. During his leadership, several programmes were launched including IGMDP, LCA, UAV,Sonars, Torpedoes etc. His initiatives were supported by R Venkataraman, Defence Minister. Dr Kalam took command of the organisation in 1992 when DRDO enetered the development of mega systems. The rest is history.

Book available at Amazon: https://www.amazon.in/INSTITUTIONS-THAT-SHAPED-MODERN-INDIA/dp/9390356725

Global Innovation Index 2021- India status

 In the GII 2021 India is ranked 46 and moved 2 levels high. Five Asian economies feature among the top 15 – the Republic of Korea (5th) and Singapore (8th) are in the top 10, followed by China (12th), Japan (13th) and Hong Kong, China (14th).

India ranking by pillars:

Institutions-62

-Political environment -66

-Regulatory environment-71

-Business environment-62

Human Capital and Research-54

-Education-102

-Tertiary education-64

-Research and development (R&D)-35

Infrastructure-81

-Information and communication technologies (ICTs)-86

-General infrastructure-52

-Ecological sustainability-98

Market sophistication-28

-credit-56

-investment-45

-Trade, diversification, and market scale-7

Business sophistication-52

-Knowledge workers-83

-Innovation linkages-50

-Knowledge absorption-34

Knowledge and technology outputs-29

-Knowledge creation-51

-knowledge impact-51

-knowledge diffusion-13

Creative outputs-68

-intangible assets-61

-Creative goods and services-55

-online creativity-105

India's best

Graduates in science and engineering, %-12

Global corporate R&D investors, top 3, mn US$-15

QS university ranking, top 3*-23

Government online service-24

E Participation-29

Gross capital formation, % GDP-28

Ease of getting credit*-23

Microfinance gross loans, % GDP-25

Market capitalization, % GDP-19

Ease of protecting minority investors*-13

Domestic industry diversification-12

Domestic market scale, bn PPP$-3

Joint venture/strategic alliance deals/bn PPP$ GDP-35

Intellectual property payments, % total trade-27

High-tech imports, % total trade-26

Citable documents H-index-21

Labor productivity growth, %-17

ICT services exports, % total trade-1

Global brand value, top 5,000, % GDP-28

Cultural and creative services exports, % total trade-18

Creative goods exports, % total trade-24

Tokyo–Yokohama is the top performing S&T cluster once again, followed by Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou, Beijing, Seoul and San Jose–San Francisco. The U.S. continues to host the highest number of clusters, followed by China, Germany, and Japan. Bengaluru is ranked 62 in the S&T cluster, downgraded by 2 ranks in 2021.

The top five R&D spending economies in 2019 were the United States (+10.9 percent), followed by China (+11.1 percent), Japan (−0.4 percent), Germany (+2.3 percent) and the Republic of Korea (+4.8 percent). These five economies have consistently been the world’s major R&D spenders since 2011. Business R&D expenditure – the largest component of total global R&D – grew by 7.2 percent in 2019, up from 4.6 percent in 2018.