Lok Sabha Question No. 1653 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-07-27
Subject: NSTEDB
Ministry: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Gautham Sigamani Pon, Manjulata Mandal, Gajanan Chandrakant Kirtikar, C.N. Annadurai, Dhanush M Kumar, Ganesan Selvam

1653.

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1653 TO BE ANSWERED ON 27/07/2022

## NSTEDB

DR. PON GAUTHAM SIGAMANI:

SHRIMATI MANJULATA MANDAL:

SHRI GAJANAN KIRTIKAR:

SHRI C.N. ANNADURAI:

SHRI DHANUSH M. KUMAR:

SHRI SELVAM G.:

Will  the  Minister  of  SCIENCE  AND  TECHNOLOGY ǒव£ान  और Ĥौƭोिगकȧ मंğी be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has achieved the objectives for which National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Boards (NSTEDB) was set up and if so, the details thereof along with the achievement made since its inception;
- (b) whether any assessment has been made on the performance of NSTEDB in the country, if so, the details and the outcome thereof;
- the details of training programmes conducted during the last three
- (c) years by the Boards under various programmes;
- (d) whether some outside agencies have been engaged for conducting the training programmes; and
- (e) if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  criteria  adopted  for engaging such agencies?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY & EARTH SCIENCES (DR. JITENDRA SINGH)

ǒव£ान और Ĥौƭोिगकȧ तथा पृØवी ǒव£ान मंğालय के  राÏय मंğी (èवतंğ Ĥभार) (डॉ . ǔजतɅġ िसंह)

- (a) National  Science  &  Technology  Entrepreneurship  Development Board  (NSTEDB)  was  setup  in  Department  of  Science  &  Technology (DST) in year 1982. The objectives of setting up of National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB) are mentioned below:

- i) To act as a policy advisory body to the Government in matters relating to Science & Technology (S&T) Entrepreneurship Development.
2. ii) To provide guidance in implementation, monitoring and evaluation of  schemes/programmes  related  to  Innovation  and  Entrepreneurship promotion  in  Department  of  Science  &  Technology,  Government  of India.
3. iii) To guide in generating new programmes/schemes for promotion of Innovation and S&T entrepreneurship.

Since inception, NSTEDB has made pioneering efforts to foster the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in the country. NSTEDB is one of the first government agencies to promote institutional mechanisms to support technology based entrepreneurship in the country through speed, scale and skills. Under its National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing its programs with 'Startup India' initiative. In the last 5 years, the number of  Technology  Business  Incubators  (TBI)  established  in  academic

Innovations (NIDHI) umbrella program, NSTEDB  has aligned institutions has doubled and has now reached more than 155 TBIs.

NSTEDB has enabled Innovation  Ecosystem  Policy  Frameworks like:  Service  Tax  exemption  to  both  incubators  and  incubates  (year 2007),  Permission  to  hold  equity  in  incubatees  by  DST  recognized incubators (year 2007), CSR Funding for incubators (year 2014). NSTEDB has pioneered Innovative Partnership Models leveraging the strengths of  diverse  stakeholders  by  programs  in  PPP  mode  for  scouting  & supporting  innovation.  NSTEDB  backed  TBI's  were  one  of  the  first international developmental  agencies.  NSTEDB  was  first  to  initiate  supporting incubators to get support from (multilateral) accelerator programs (year 2016) through TBIs to accelerate growthstage companies at the post incubation stage.

NSTEDB  pioneered  initiating  NIDHI  Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIR)  fellowship  to  support  aspiring  entrepreneurs.  So  far,  604  EIR fellowships have been extended to aspiring entrepreneurs through TBIs. According to a latest study conducted during 2014-2019 through Indian Institute  of  Technology,  Kanpur,  on  NSTEDB,  DST  programs,  the constant  innovative  approach  adopted  by  the  DST  team  and  other stakeholders in successfully navigating the pitfalls in startup journey are noteworthy.

- (b) Yes Sir. The Government has made assessments on the performance of the National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development  Board  (NSTEDB)  which  was  set  up  in  1982  in  the

Department  of  Science  &  Technology  (DST).  The  details  of  the assessments  carried  out  on  the  performance  of  NSTEDB  are  given below.

The first assessment on working of NSTEDB was carried out by an Evaluation  Committee,  chaired  by  Shri  T.  N.  Seshan.  The  committee submitted its report in 1988, which emphasized the continuation of an exclusive  Board  (NSTEDB)  to  promote  entrepreneurship  among  the Science and Technology persons in the country and also concluded that NSTEDB should be located in the DST.

The second assessment on NSTEDB performance and its impact and Technology Transfer was carried out by the National Council of Applied Economic Research in 1998. The key outcome of the study was that Social cost benefit analysis of the NSTEDB programs revealed a high on Entrepreneurship development, Employment generation social yield (social IRR).

The  evaluation  of  NSTEDB  performance  and  its  achievement during the XI Plan was carried out in 2013 by a committee chaired by Prof. S. K. Joshi. The committee recommended NSTEDB to Expand the Technology  Business  Incubator  (TBI)  network  substantially  in  the country.

The recent assessment, specifically for the period 2014-19, was carried  out  by  Indian  Syndicate  Bank  Entrepreneurship  Research  & Training Centre, Institute of Technology, Kanpur. The outcomes, in form of impact report was published in 2020.  As per the report, the constant innovative approach adopted by the DST team and other stakeholders in successfully navigating the pitfalls in startup journey are noteworthy. During  the  period  of  assessment,  NSTEDB  programs  have  shown accelerated pace of interventions.

The programs of  NSTEDB, DST on  S&T based entrepreneurship have also been recently approved by the Expenditure Finance Committee in March 2018 and July 2021. Periodically, the independent third party evaluation of the major programs are also carried out. On recommendation  of third party evaluation,  emphasis  on  women entrepreneurship  programs  and  virtual  incubation  to  increase  the outreach of incubators have been incorporated by NSTEDB, DST.

- (c) DST has supported conduct of following training programs during the last 3 years in the area of Science & Technology Entrepreneurship

development.  The programs  in 2020-21 and 2021-22 have  been organized in online mode.

-  Entrepreneurship  Awareness  Camp  (EAC):  a  3  days  camp  to sensitize  and  inculcate  the  seed  of  S&T  entrepreneurship amongst youth
-  Entrepreneurship  Development  Programme  (EDP):  a  4  Weeks capacity  building  programme  of  potential  entrepreneurs  for setting up S&T based enterprises.
-  Women  Entrepreneurship  Development  Programme  (WEDP):  4 weeks  program  to  motivate  and  encourage  potential  women entrepreneurs,
-  Technology  based  Entrepreneurship  Development  Programme (TEDP):  6  weeks  program  for  potential  entrepreneurs  having S&T  background  to  promote  technology  led/R  &  D  based enterprises,
-  Faculty Development Programme (FDP): a 2 weeks program to train faculty/resource persons for teaching and training entrepreneurship.

A  total  of  5175  above  training  programmes  were  organized  where around 1,30,102 participants were trained.

- (d) &  (e) Yes  Sir.  The  Science  &  Technology  Entrepreneurship development  training  programs  are  conducted  by  different  agencies which include academic and technical institutes, not-for-profit entities, Innovation and Incubation Centres, Management Institutes, Entrepreneurship Development Institutes, Technical Consultancy Organisations etc. DST has constituted Expert Advisory Committee on Training & Capacity Building for Entrepreneurship, Startups & Incubation  Development  (EAC  on  TCB).  The  committee  selects  the training programme conducting agencies. The selection is done on the basis of following Criteria:
- 
- Experience and expertise in conducting such training programmes
-  In-hose capacity and capabilities of the institution/organisation
-  Resources available for conducting training programmes
- 
- Commitment of the organisation/institution
-  Track record of conducting similar activities in the past.

The Training program proposals are received against 'Call for Proposals' only.

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