Lok Sabha Question No. 5588 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-04-06
Subject: NSTEDB
Ministry: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Sunil Dattatray Tatkare, Kuldeep Rai Sharma, DNV Senthilkumar. S., Subhash Ramrao Bhamre, Supriya Sadanand Sule

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

## DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 5588

TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.04.2022

## NSTEDB

## 5588. SHRI SUNIL DATTATRAY TATKARE:

SHRI KULDEEP RAI SHARMA:

DR. DNV SENTHILKUMAR. S.:

DR. SUBHASH RAMRAO BHAMRE:

SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE:

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

- (a) whether the Government has achieved its objectives for which National Science  and  Technology  Entrepreneurship  Development  Board  (NSTEDB) was established and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether any assessment has been made on the performance of NSTEDB in the country and if so, the details and the outcome thereof;
- (c)  the  details  of  the  institutions  set  up/  assisted  under  institutional mechanism under the project;
- (d) the details of the training programmes conducted during the last three
- years by the Board under various programmes;
- (e) whether some outside agencies have been engaged for conducting the training programmes; and
- (f) 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 AND TECHNOLOGY & EARTH SCIENCES (DR. JITENDRA SINGH)

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

- (a) Yes Sir. The National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development  Board  (NSTEDB),  was  established  by  the  Department  of Science & Technology in the year of 1982.  The objectives of the setting up of NSTEDB are mentioned below:

1.  To act as a policy advisory body to the Government in matters relating to S&T Entrepreneurship Development.
2. To guide the Department in implementation, monitoring and evaluation of Schemes/programmes related to Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
3.    To  guide  in  generating  new  programmes/schemes  related  to promotion of innovation and entrepreneurship.

To  achieve  these  objectives,  since  its  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 Innovations (NIDHI) umbrella program, NSTEDB has aligned its programs with Startup India initiative. In the last 5 years, the number of Technology Business Incubators (TBI) established have doubled and have now  reached  more  than  160  TBIs.  NSTEDB  has  enabled  Innovation Ecosystem Policy Frameworks  like: Service Tax exemption to both incubators  and  incubatees  (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  was  first  to  initiate  supporting  Accelerator  programs  (year 2016) through TBIs to accelerate growth-stage companies at the post incubation stage.

- (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  on Entrepreneurship  development,  Employment  generation  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 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 outcome,s 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. The NSTEDB programs have shown accelerated pace of interventions in the last 5 years.

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) No institution is setup under NSTEDB. However, institutions are assisted under  instructional  mechanism  for  conducting  various  programmes  of NSTEDB. Under institutional mechanism, support is extended to not-for-profit agencies  in  form  of  societies,  section  8  companies  created  by  different institutions  like  NITs,  IITs,  Public  and  Private  universities,  Engineering Colleges,  Agriculture  institutes,  Management  Institutes,  Entrepreneurship Institutes, Technical Consultancy Organisations and NGOs.
- (d) 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. Number of training programs on S&T based Entrepreneurship and number of participants are given below.
- (e) & (f) 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.

| Sr. No   | Name of Training Programme   | F.Y 2018-19   | F.Y 2019-20   | F.Y 2020- 21*   | F.Y 2021- 22*   |
|----------|------------------------------|---------------|---------------|-----------------|-----------------|
|          |                              | NPT (NTR)     | NPT (NTR)     |                 |                 |
|          |                              |               |               | NPT (NTR)       | NPT (NTR)       |
| 1        | EAC                          | 56850 (2274)  | 39625 (1585)  | 0               | 0               |
| 2        | EDP                          | 4775 (191)    | 3000 (120)    | 0               | 0               |
| 3        | WEDP                         | 3186 (118)    | 2322 (86)     | 1539 (62)       | 2322 (77)       |
| 4        | TEDP                         | 5330 (205)    | 3484 (134)    | 1716 (69)       | 2054 (69)       |
| 5        | FDP                          | 4100 (164)    | 3000 (120)    | 1175 (47)       | 1325 (45)       |
|          | Total                        | 74241 (2952)  | 51431 (2045)  | 4430 (178)      | 5701 (191)      |

Note: NPT -No of participants NTR- (No of training programme)

*****