Lok Sabha Question No. 4045 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-08-10
Subject: Scientific/Technological Innovations
Ministry: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: SUSHIL KUMAR SINGH, RAVINDRA KUMAR PANDEY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.4045 TO BE ANSWERED ON 10/08/2016

## SCIENTIFIC/TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS

## 4045. SHRI SUSHIL KUMAR SINGH: SHRI RAVINDRA KUMAR PANDEY:

Will the Minister of SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY òãðìððÐð ¡ðøÜ ÑßðøÌðð÷ò±ð¨îó Ùðüëðó be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  promotes/  proposes  to  promote  scientific/  technological  innovative ideas, concepts and practices under the science and technology schemes and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the number of such proposals received by the Government from the researchers/innovators and skilled persons during each of the last three years and the current year, State/UT-wise;
- (c) whether the Government proposes to invite such innovators/promoters who have registered their research/innovations in patent offices across the country;
- (d) if so, the details thereof along with the steps being taken by the Government to provide help to such innovators by the concerned department; and
- (e) the State/UT-wise details of the schemes, allocation of funds and expenditure during the last three years and the current year to promote such inventions in various States including in Jharkhand by the Government?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI Y.S. CHOWDARY)

òãðìððÐð ¡ðøÜ ÑßðøÌðð÷ò±ð¨îó ÙðüëððâðÚð Ùð÷ü Üð¸Úð Ùðüëðó +ÉÉè® ÑðöÆãðó òãðìððÐð ÙðüëððâðÚð Ùð÷ü Üð¸Úð Ùðüëðó

(gÉÉÒ ´ÉÉ<Ç. AºÉ. SÉÉèvÉ®ÉÒ)

(a) Several Government organisations like Department of Science & Technology (DST), Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeiTY),  National Innovation Foundation (NIF) Ahmedabad have been supporting scientific/ technological innovative ideas, concepts and practices under the science and  technology  schemes.  DST  has  introduced  several    new  schemes  namely  National  Initiative  for Developing and Harnessing Innovations (NIDHI), New Generation Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Centre (NewGen IEDC), Grand Challenges and Competitions for Scouting Innovations (GCC),  Promoting  and  Acclerating  Young  and  Aspiring  Innovators  and  Startups  (PRAYAS), Entrepreneur-In-Residence (EIR), Start up NIDHI, Technology Business Incubator (TBI), Seed Support System (SSS), Accelerator, Centers of Excellence  (CoE).

National Innovation Foundation - India (NIF), an autonomous body of the Department of Science and  Technology,  Government  of  India,  promotes  original  technological  ideas  and  innovations  of  the people  of  the  informal  sector  and  those  of  the  school  students.  NIF  is    committed  to  making  India innovative  by  scouting,  documenting,  adding  value,  protecting  the  intellectual  property  rights  of  the contemporary unaided technological innovators at the grassroots and outstanding traditional knowledge holders, and facilitate diffusion of the same.

NIF organises national biennial competitions inviting entries of technological ideas, innovations and outstanding traditional knowledge from the informal sector and Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE annual competition for technological ideas and innovations for school students. NIF has till date (2000 2015)  recognised  816  grassroots  innovators,  outstanding  traditional  knowledge  holders,  grassroots communities and school students at the national level in its various national award functions (Biennial and IGNITE).

NIF has been able to build up a database of more than 2,25,000 technological ideas, innovations and traditional knowledge practices (not all unique, not all distinct) from over 585 districts of the country. Through the collaborations with Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and various other R&D and academic institutions, Agricultural and Veterinary Universities and others, NIF has helped in getting thousands of grassroots technologies including herbal traditional knowledge practices validated and/or value added. NIF has also set up a Fabrication Laboratory (Fab Lab) with the help of MIT, USA, for product development where grassroots innovators can come and work on their ideas/innovations. NIF

has also established 37 community workshops in different rural areas of 19 states at the premises of experienced innovators so that other grassroots innovators of the region can have access to fabrication facilities and also learn from them.

The  broad categories of various scheme/initiatives of Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DieTY) are in the following domain:

I. Technology Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurs scheme (TIDE) at Institutions of Higher Learning

The scheme aims to nurture technology innovation and enable local development of Electronics and ICT products and packages in the long run. The tenure of the scheme is till March, 2017

II. Support  to  collaborative  R&D  between  industry  and  academics/  R&D  institutions  for development of products and packages- Multiplier Grants Scheme

The scheme aims to strengthen industry/ institute-linkages, encourage and accelerate development of indigenous products/ packages and bridge the gap between R&D and commercialization. The scheme is valid till March 2017.

Under the scheme, if industry supports R&D for development of commercializiable products at an institution, the   Government   may provide financial support upto  twice the amount provided by industry.  The proposals for providing financial support under the scheme are to be submitted jointly by the industry and academic/R&D institutions.

IRIS is a programme of Department of Science & Technology in public-private partnership mode with Intel and the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF).  Since its inception, IRIS has been offering a platform to young innovators (classes 5-12) to showcase their talent at national level. IRIS scouts  for  research  based  innovative  science  projects  from  school  children  in  India.  The  shortlisted projects are showcased in annual National Fair.

IRIS  National  Fair  brings  the  children  in  touch  with  domain  experts,  scientists  and  public, to  appreciate  and  recognize  the  spirit  of  research  and  innovation.  The  young  geniuses  are motivated to become future scientists and innovators.

India Innovation Initiative (I 3 )

The India Innovation Initiative aims to strengthen the Innovation & Entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country by communicating, sensitizing, and encouraging and promoting a culture of innovation amongst all sections of society and generate greater awareness amongst the students and their faculty. The initiative has a wider outreach and covers Urban as well as Rural areas. The programme establishes a  unique  platform  for  individual  and  grass  root  innovators  to  facilitate  commercialization  of  their innovations leading to employment and new jobs in the country.

I 3  organizes a national level competition with the principal aim of communicating and promoting Science, Technology and innovations amongst Indian citizens and facilitating commercialization of most promising innovations.

I 3  catalyzes creation of innovation by incentivizing innovators who tackle challenges in the key areas of health care, sanitation, agriculture, energy etc.

The 38 constituent laboratories of the Council of Scientific & Industrial  Research(CSIR) promote and pursue research in various fields of science &technology through intramural funding. It is also promote basic research through extra mural funding to well qualified, highly specialized scientists, engineers and technologists for R&D in all disciplines of S&T in the country through various fellowship schemes. Currently, CSIR do not have any specific scheme to promote new scientific/technological ideas for researchers outside the system.

(b) Proposals from the innovators are received against several calls made by DST. Some of these programmes (i) Power of Ideas, in association with Economic Times and IIM Ahmedabad attracts about 15000  innovations;  (ii)  India  Innovation  Growth  Programme  in  association  with  Lockheed  Martin attracts about 2000 innovators every year. In addition to this programme, like Eureka of IIT Bombay, Anveshgan of IIM Ahmedabad, etc attract close to 10,000 innovators filing in their applications.

(c)    to  (e):      Yes  Madam.    DST  through  TIFAC  had  an  award  scheme  to  invite  patent  holders  for commercialisation  of  their  innovations.  DST  also  implements  a  programme  on  Technology  Business Incubators to nurture innovative ideas to successful ventures by providing space, modest work space and critical business support services.  The Department has recently announced a new programme NIDHI to convert various links of innovation to market value chain. There is no Centrally Sponsored Scheme for the purpose and therefore there are no State/UT-wise allocations and targets.

********