Lok Sabha Question No. 1203 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-07-25
Subject: Commercialization of Indigenous Technology
Ministry: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: KUNWAR PUSHPENDRA SINGH CHANDEL, SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE, Shrirang Appa Barne, VINAYAK BHAURAO RAUT, DHARMENDRA YADAV, ANANDRAO  ADSUL, SHIVAJI ADHALRAO PATIL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

## DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1203

TO BE ANSWERED ON 25/7/2018

## COMMERCIALIZATION OF INDIGENOUS TECHNOLOGY

## 1203.  SHRI KUNWAR PUSHPENDRA SINGH CHANDEL:

DR. SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE:

SHRI SHRIRANG APPA BARNE:

DR. PRITAM GOPINATH MUNDE:

SHRI VINAYAK BHAURAO RAUT:

SHRI DHARMENDRA YADAV:

SHRI ANANDRAO ADSUL:

SHRI ADHALRAO PATIL SHIVAJIRAO:

Will the Minister of SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ÉÊ´ÉYÉÉxÉ +ÉÉè® |ÉÉètÉÉäÉÊMÉBÉEÉÒ àÉÆjÉÉÒ be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  increased  the  quality  and  quantity  of  basic  research, technology transfer, innovation and start-ups;
- (b) if so, the facts in this regard;
- (c) whether there is a need to develop commercial indigenous technology;
- (d) if  so, the steps taken to develop commercial indigenous technology and success achieved in this regard so far;
- (e) whether  the  Ministry  of  Science  and  Technology  intends  to  foster  and  support  more collaborative teaching programmes with faculty from both medical and engineering institutions to promote skill development in healthcare technology; and
- (f) if so, the facts thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, MINISTER OF EARTH SCIENCES AND MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (DR. HARSH VARDHAN)

ÉÊ´ÉYÉÉxÉ +ÉÉè® |ÉÉètÉÉäÉÊMÉBÉEÉÒ àÉÆjÉÉÒ, {Éßl´ÉÉÒ ÉÊ´ÉYÉÉxÉ àÉÆjÉÉÒ +ÉÉè® {ÉªÉÉÇ´É®hÉ, ´ÉxÉ A´ÉÆ VÉãÉ´ÉÉªÉÖ {ÉÉÊ®´ÉiÉÇxÉ àÉÆjÉÉÒ

(bÉ. c­ÉÇ ´ÉvÉÇxÉ)

- (a)  &  (b):      Yes  Madam.  India's  Gross  expenditure  on  R&D  (GERD)  has  been  consistently increasing  over  the  years  and  has  increased  4  fold  from  Rs.20,086.34  crores  in  2003-04  to  Rs. 85,326.10 crores in 2014-15. It is estimated to be Rs. 94,516.45 crores in 2015-16 and Rs. 1,04,864.03 crores in 2016-17. India is far ahead of many developed and developing nations in terms of GERD and  it  stands  among  the  top  10  leading  countries  in  the  world.  As  per  the  DST  Commissioned Study,  2016  by  Elsevier  based  on  SCOPUS, research  publication  output increased by 68% from 62,955 in 2009 to 106,065 in 2013. India ranked at 6th position in the world in scientific publications ahead of France, Spain and Italy during 2013. India's global citation impact in scientific research has increased to 0.75 during 2009-13 from 0.68 during 2006-10 (World average citation impact is 1.0)  According to the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks, patent applications

at Indian Patent Office (IPO) increased from 39,400 in 2010-11 to 47854 in 2017-18. Government has strengthened its institutions, established incubators, Centres of Excellence, Technology Parks to enhance  the  quality  and  quantity  of  translational  research,  technology  transfer,  innovation  and start-ups etc.

Department of Science and Technology has substantially increased the support to research and development in various fields of fundamental research in physical, chemical, engineering and life  sciences  thereby  increasing  the  quantity  and  quality  of  basic  research  through  autonomous organization, Science  and Engineering Research Board  (SERB).  Participation of India in International  projects  like  Thirty  Meter  Telescope  (TMT),  Laser  Interferometer  Gravitationalwave Observatory (LIGO) under the Mega Science Programme of DST and institution of Science and Engineering Research Board demonstrate the commitment of the Government for advancement  of  fundamental  research  in  the  country.  Establishment  of  new  and  attractive fellowships, strengthening research infrastructure for R&D in Universities etc. are some other steps aimed to step up quality and quantity or research.

Under the Technology Development Programmes of DST, nearly 100 projects are supported every year to develop technologies in the area of Advanced Manufacturing, Waste Management, and Devices for Agriculture, Textile, Analytical and Biomedical Applications. Two specific schemes Water Technology Initiative and Clean Energy Research Initiative have been formulated to develop indigenous  research  based  technologies  and  also  leverage  international  collaboration  to  further improve upon developed technologies. National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations  (NIDHI),  an  umbrella  programme  was  conceived  and  developed  by  Department  of Science and Technology in 2016, for nurturing ideas and innovations into successful startups. This umbrella programme, NIDHI aims to nurture start-ups through scouting, supporting and scaling of innovations.  TIFAC-SIDBI  Technology  Innovation  Programme  (Srijan)  is  being  implemented jointly  by  DST-TIFAC  and  SIDBI  facilitates  scaling  up  of  indigenous  technology  innovations  to bring new technologies from lab to market. So far, 47 innovations are technically recommended for scaling, 25 projects approved and 16 innovations are successfully commercialized. In addition, in the Technology Foresight for Automotive Research (TEAR) programme, TIFAC is preparing R&D Plan  for  specific  Technology  interventions  like  Electric  Mobility,  rare  earth  magnet  based permanent  magnet  motors  for  electric  vehicles  etc.  Technology  Development  Board  (TDB)  is  a unique organization under DST for providing financial assistance to the industrial concerns for attempting  development  and  commercialization  of  indigenous  technology.  TDB  provides  financial assistance by way of Loan; Equity or Grant.

Department  of  Biotechnology  has  been  implementing  a  program  on  basic  research  in modern biotechnology and is also promoting  basic Research in the area of Medical, Agriculture and Environmental Biotechnology. Under the Startup India Action plan, the Department and its public sector undertaking Biotechnology Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), have taken several initiatives to increase the quality and quantity of technology transfer, innovations and start-ups. So far,  the  Department  has  supported  4  Bio-clusters  and  implemented  Bangalore  Boston  Biotech Gateway Program to connect with the institutions in Boston.  Further, 2 Equity Funding Schemes have been launched and are operational.

Department of Scientific and industrial Research (DSIR) through Council of Scientific and industrial  Research  (CSIR)  has  been  publishing  high  impact  papers  in  journals  of  international repute such as Nature, Nature Biotechnology, the Lancet and others. CSIR published 5382 research papers  in  SCI  journals  of  national  and  international  repute  during  2017.  The  average  Impact Factor per paper increased from 2.86 in 2013 to 3.18 during 2017. CSIR has been at the forefront of Intellectual  Property  generation  -  it  enjoys  a  unique  position  amongst  publicly  funded  R&D organizations  nationally  and  internationally.  CSIR  has  put  in  place  enabling  mechanisms  to promote research and innovation in S&T which include: Sharing of the premia & royalty received from  the  transfer  of  technology  with  scientists  along  with  proceeds  from  contractual  R&D  and consultancy; Facilitating mobility of researchers between industry and CSIR national laboratories/institutions;  and  Allowing  the  researchers  to  have  an  equity  stake  in  scientific enterprises; and also spin-offs while in service.

Indian  Council  of  medical  Research  has  set  up  Innovation  and  Translation  Research Division  at  the  ICMR Headquarters in 2015 which supports activities like up-scaling, validation, technology assessment, technology transfer under different programs.

Technology  Incubation  and  Development  of  Entrepreneurs  (TIDE)  Scheme  was  of  the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to promotes innovation by nurturing startups in Information Technology, Communications & Electronics (ICTE) domain.

Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) under its initiative Atal Incubation Centres has been striving towards building the innovation and start-up ecosystem of India. Under this initiative during 2017, AIM has  supported  establishment  of  13  Atal  Incubation  Centres  and  has  extended  support  for scaling up of 6 Established Incubation Centres (EIC).

(c) & (d):   Yes Madam. It is always desirable to develop commercial indigenous technologies. In this  direction,  the  DST  had  sanctioned  created  5  Technical  Research  Centres  wherein  work  on more than 50 technologies is in progress. Technology Development Board (TDB) has been consistently providing financial support to the companies for manufacturing the outcome of indigenous research, at the same time, paving a path towards Hi-tech and Hi-risk domains. TDB, Since its inception in 1996, has signed a total of 343 agreements (31 st March, 2018) with industrial concerns at a total project cost of Rs.  8160.00  crore  involving  TDB's  commitment  of  Rs.  2122.25  crore.  TDB  has  since  then disbursed Rs. 1632.88 crore.

The support from DBT to innovative Research and Development activities, Entrepreneurs and Startups has resulted in development of 301 indigenous technologies/products.

CSIR has been pursuing focused efforts at enabling commercial exploitation of intellectual property,  knowledgebase  and/or  technologies/products  developed  at  its  constituent  laboratories. Often, even after licensing of the technologies/products, CSIR handholds the industry partner for further  development  of  the  technology  so  as  to  facilitate  market  acceptance  and  thereby  its commercial success.

In 2018, Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) has shortlisted 80 new institutions for establishment of Incubation Centres. Among these, 72 applicants are going to set up Atal Incubation Centres and 9 applicants are going to be supported for scaling up of Established Incubation Centres. These Atal Incubation  Centres  established  so  far  have  already  incubated  360+  start-ups  and  contributed towards creation of 6000+ jobs and also encouraged deployment of innovations.

ICMR has its in-house mechanism for technology transfer which involves identifying leads that have potential for products are identified from the patents filed by the ICMR- both intramural and  extramural.  These  technologies  are  place  on  ICMR  website  for  inviting  proposals  from interested companies/manufacturers for up-scaling and commercialization of technologies. ICMR also provides handholding in technical support, product launch, for spreading awareness through exhibitions and facilitate in obtaining regulatory approvals on case to case basis as per requirement of technology.

Ministry of Earth Sciences has set up Technology Research Board to promote indigenous technology in the field of Ocean, Atmosphere and Geosciences.

A Scheme for "Enhancement of Competitiveness in the Indian Capital Goods Sector" has also been launched by the Government in the year 2014 with a financial allocation of Rs.581.22 over a period of five years through Department of Heavy Industries. Till now, the projects worth more than  Rs.550  crore  have  been  approved  by  the  under various  components  of  the  Scheme such  as Centers of Excellence (CoE), Common  Engineering  Facility Centers (CEFC), Technology Acquisition Fund Programme (TAFP) and Integrated Industrial Infrastructural Facility (IIIF).

The  Indian  Council  of  Agricultural  Research  (ICAR)  has  developed  and  implemented Guidelines  for  Intellectual  Property  Management  and  Technology  Transfer/Commercialization.

Institute Technology Management Units (ITMUs) have been established in all ICAR institutes as a single-window mechanism to pursue matters related to technology commercialization with Zonal Technology Management Centers (ZTMC) as the middle-tier and the apex Intellectual Property and  Technology  Management  (IP&TM)  Unit  at  the  ICAR  headquarters.  Further,  ICAR  has created the National Agriculture Innovation Fund that retains the component of Innovation Fund to upscale the IP management activities and includes a component on Incubation Fund to address the much-needed requirements of business incubation (Agribusiness Incubation Centers established  in  24  ICAR  institutes  and  supported  154  Agri-entrepreneurs/start-ups  in  different sectors  of  agriculture).  Agrinnovate  India  Limited  a  registered  Company,  was  established  by Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) for technology transfer/ commercialization. The success achieved in Intellectual Property Right (IPR) protection is reflected during  2014-15  to  2017-18  as  filing  of  479  IPRs  and  signing  of  1572  agreements  for  transfer  of ICAR technologies to different public/private organizations.

Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has a technology transfer and collaboration division (T&CD) who coordinate the  transfer  of  technologies  to  private  entrepreneurs.  The  technologies developed are transferred to industry on non- exclusive basis at very nominal technology transfer fee  for  fulfilling  the  requirements  of  the  Nation.  Bhabha  Atomic  Research  Centre  (BARC)  has developed 142 indigenous technologies so far and transferred them to 176 licensees during 2015 to July, 2018.

(e)  &  (f):      Yes  Madam.  CSIR has launched an integrated Skill Initiative Program to contribute towards  government's  enterprise  enhancing  programs  in  Skill  India  and  Stand  Up  India.  These training  programs  are  interconnected  and  linked  to  industry  requirements.  CSIR  has  launched more than 30 integrated skill initiatives in diverse areas with varying duration.

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