Public R&D – Private Industry Partnerships

Public R&D – Private Industry Partnerships

Linkages between R&D agencies and industry in India effected through the facilitating institutionalised mechanisms of the government S&T departments and agencies as well as select academic institutions provide update on operational dimensions. Partnerships have assumed new importance in the context of globalisation. India has reached a stage when it should not be merely defensive to protect the domestic market, but should also aim at international markets with a medium and long-term strategy through partnership between R&D agencies and industry. New paradigms in the IPR generation and protection are posing novel challenges. Other factors such as transition to knowledge based economy, changing life cycles of products, expensive research emphasise the need of such partnerships

In India, like in most developing countries, the government budgetary allocation has been the main funding source for carrying out R&D in basic and applied sciences, which is evident from the statistics of the percentage share of various funding players on R&D in any given year. For example, in the year 1998-99 the percentage share in national expenditure on R&D of the Central Government was 62.5%; State Government 8.0%; public sector industries 5.0%; and private sector industries 21.6%. 83% of the R&D expenditure incurred by the Central Government sources came from 12 major scientific agencies, namely, the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), Department of Space (DOS), Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Ministry of Information Technology (MIT), Ministry of New and renewable Energy (MNRE), Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and the rest from the other central ministries /departments /public sector industries. Amongst the major scientific agencies, DRDO accounted for 31.8% of the expenditure.

Opening up of economy and the global liberalisation policies of the Government causing severe competition in the global R&D base, particularly in strategic areas, awakened the industry to a great extent and it started looking outward. In view of the competitive environment in which the Indian industries had to compete even in the domestic market with imported products, it was expedient to focus the R&D efforts towards economic benefit of the country through better utilisation of research developments and capabilities available. The operation of market forces induced growth of forces supporting innovation. The Industry exhorted to graduate from the re-engineering culture to R&D culture to face the new challenges.

In order to obviate the highly independent identities of R&D agencies and industry and with a view to achieve techno-economic development India adopted a two pronged approach: one which relates to creating a climate for indigenous development of technology in the country and the other for the transfer and adaptation of technology imported from the advanced countries. The industrial development model pursued by India till the late eighties did not effectively encourage original R&D endeavour by industry. As a result, practically not a single globally competitive technology could emerge from India. The shift in the perception towards R&D began to change with the economic reforms of 1991 and a paradigm shift took place with India’s accession to World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 1995. However, accessing globally competitive industrial technologies became more difficult due to the integration of the global trade/economy. Thus in order to survive, Indian industry had no option but to indigenously develop such technology.

The liberalised economy had given Indian industry valuable opportunity to develop new ideas and technologies, which could be sold globally. The process of globalisation compelled both the publicly funded R&D agencies and the industry to enter into a dialogue and work together to mutual advantage. However, despite the fact that in India the need for interaction between the industry and the R&D institutions was fairly well recognised, and that all the stakeholders in this interaction know that they are expected to benefit by collaborating with one another, the progress achieved so far has not been adequate.

The task of finding an appropriate scientific-engineering liaison is critical to the success of any new, university - R&D agency – industry interaction. Thus the Government of India (GOI) instituted several initiatives with focused endeavours to provide better opportunities for R&D agencies and the industries to work together and progress. The government support towards public sponsorship of R&D partnerships was the policy response to various market failures, which are not resolved by market mechanisms alone. It established partnership-facilitating agencies and launched programmes to specifically address the issues of generation and diffusion of new knowledge and technology through partnership at various stages of technology development cycle.

Fig 1

Fig 1: Technology Development Cycle

The government has traditionally been supporting the idea stage as part of its basic research efforts. Once the idea is generated it needs to be protected by securing the necessary patenting. For example, National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) provides funding support for this purpose. Schemes such as Technology Development and Demonstration Programme (TDDP, formerly Programme aimed at Technological Self Reliance (PATSER)) and Home Grown Technology (HGT) were instituted to support the R&D agencies/industries for prototype development, pilot plant establishment, test and evaluation of products, user trials etc. on indigenous technology with or without collaboration with each other. To enhance creativity & innovation, the GOI initiated a programme named, Technoprenaur Promotion Programme (TePP) for individual innovators, in formal & informal sector, and support for grassroot innovation to commercialization. This is the stage where intense interaction between the R&D and industry is required. Once a technology qualifies the techno-commercial requirements, it needs to be taken up for commercialisation. But the most important step at this stage is packaging the technology or a product into a saleable commodity, which requires specialised skills in design and engineering, not only for the product as such but the whole manufacturing system with economic viability. So there is a clear need of a special breed of technologists that could address this issue of realizing the full potential of new scientific inventions through their engineering skills and market knowledge.

After establishing the concrete evidence of techno-economic feasibility of a technology or a product, there is still an element of uncertainty of the success of a technological venture. In order to take care of this risk, the Government established TDB in September 1996 and added a new element to the TDDP to extend support for incubation of proven R&D technologies for their commercialization.

Partnership Promoting Initiatives in All Sectors

Various mechanisms/programmes/fiscal incentives instituted by the GOI in the pre- and post-globalisation period are discussed below in chronological order.

The National Research Development Corporation: National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) was set up as early as in 1953 to address issues related to exploiting indigenous know-how, to act as a link between national research laboratories and entrepreneurs by transferring technologies developed by mostly public R&D agencies, and to financially support entrepreneurs for putting up pilot plant, prototype development and establishment of demonstration units and thus facilitating commercialisation of indigenous technologies. Current promotional activities of NRDC are being carried out under the Invention Promotion Programme (Proving Prize Award & Award of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) to Meritorious Inventions; Protecting Inventions through IPR; IPR Consultancy; Incentive to Scientists and publications etc.) and the Technology Promotion Programme (Promotion of Rural and Household Technology; Export of Technology; Informatics for Technology Transfer and Technology Development Programme for Priority Projects). Its commercial activities include the licensing of technologies to industry; providing conditional grants for development of technologies to R&D laboratories and industries for setting up pilot plants to prove/scale up laboratory processes prior to commercialisation; providing IPR consultancy services to R&D institutes and industries; exporting Indigenous technologies and know-how; participating in equity to facilitate formation of new ventures using indigenous technologies; and executing turnkey projects abroad based on indigenous technologies. A large number of Indian technologies have been commercialised by industry under licence from NRDC in the areas of agro-food processing, biomedical devices, biotechnology, drugs and pharmaceuticals, chemical industries, eco-friendly chemicals, electronics, building materials, rural industries etc. NRDC has been exporting proven technologies and services to entrepreneurs/industries both in the developed as well as the developing countries that include USA, Germany, Malaysia, Burma, Nepal, Senegal, Indonesia, Madagascar, Philippine, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Brazil and Bangladesh.

In-house R&D Centres Recognition Scheme: The GOI launched an ‘In-house R&D Centres Recognition Scheme’ in 1973 for granting recognition to in-house R&D units in industry, which was initially being coordinated by DST, but was subsequently taken over by DSIR. At the time of launch one of the objectives of the scheme was to provide liberal import facilities to the recognised In-house R&D units under Open General License, which was later, absorbed in the liberalised trade policies announced by the GOI in 1991. Recognising the need to establish their own R&D units and taking advantage of the incentives and support measures available, a number of industries set up their own in-house R&D units to meet the technical and technological needs of their production centres.

The number of in-house units recognised by DSIR has increased steadily from about 100 in 1973 to around 275 in 1975; around 700 by 1980; around 925 by 1985; around 1100 by 1990; around 1200 by 1995; and thereafter the number has been hovering between 1200 and 1250. On 31^st December 2007, the number of recognised in-house R&D centres was 1253 which got raised to 1352 on 31^st December 2008. Of these, nearly 1180 units are in the private sector and the remaining in public/joint sector. 157 of the total recognised R&D centres incurred in an annual expenditure of over Rs. 5.00 crores each and 307 centres’ expenditure was in the range of Rs. 1.00 crore to Rs. 5.00 crore.

National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board : In 1982 the GOI set up a National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB) under the aegis of DST with an aim to (a) promote knowledge based and innovation driven enterprises; (b) facilitate generation of entrepreneurship and self-employment opportunities for S&T persons; (c) facilitate information dissemination; (d) network various Central & State Government agencies for S&T based entrepreneurship development; and (e) act as a policy advisory body to the Government agencies for S&T based entrepreneurship development. The Board has representation from socio-economic and scientific Departments/Ministries, premier entrepreneurship development institutions and all India Financial Institutions.

The Board has since initiated a number of programmes, which have been successfully operating to meet the above objectives. Over 100 organisations, most of which are academic institutions and voluntary agencies, were drafted in the task of entrepreneurship development and employment generation. The Board has also initiated programmes jointly with International organizations such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on vocational training.

One of its major initiatives is Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Parks (STEPs). The concept of ‘Technology Parks’ existed since long in the developed world. However, the GOI launched the STEPs scheme in 1984-85 through NSTEDB in collaboration with the Indian financial institutions, namely, Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) and Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India Ltd (ICICI) for promotion of innovation and entrepreneurship among scientific and technical persons. Under this scheme STEPs are established in and around academic and R&D institutions of excellence. The STEP has a focus to facilitate establishment of closer linkages on continuing basis between R&D agencies and industry and permit theory to influence practice for its continued up-gradation. So far 17 STEPs, have been established near the educational and research infrastructure spread over the country, which have by FY 2008-09 promoted nearly 788 units generating annual turnover of around Rs. 130 crores and employment for 5,000 persons. More than 100 new products and technologies have been developed by the STEP(s) promoted entrepreneurs. In addition, over 11,000 persons have been trained through various skill development programmes conducted by STEPs.

The Government increasingly realised that two distinct features, i.e. high growth and high risk, characterise the technology-based and knowledge-driven enterprises, coupled with time to market-necessitate development of special mechanisms to nurture innovation and entrepreneurship. NSTEDB made a beginning to establish Technology Business Incubator (TBI) by organising the first international workshop on TBIs in Bangalore jointly with the Asian and Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology (APCTT) and the Directorate of Industries and Commerce, Government of Karnataka during 29-31 January 2001. It concluded that TBIs are the tool for catalysing the development and growth of technology based small enterprises and the initiative. Thus, the initiative of the Government got formalised with a focus on integration of higher educational institutions, the seedbeds of new ideas and technologies, with business enterprises, which can yield good results. The setting up of TBIs was taken up as a major initiative in the 10^th five-year plan. 16 TBIs were set up by the year 2005 in various higher learning institutions to leverage their strengths in a particular technological area. For example, the Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARC-I) Hyderabad is involved not only in developing, upgrading and transferring the technologies for commercialisation, but also runs a TBI on Advanced Materials. Setting up of 40 TBIs was sanctioned by DST by 31^st December 2008. Main factors for the growth of TBIs include access to skills and competencies, access to financing, access to marketing and environment for innovation. TBIs are a perfect example of the kind of Government – Private Sector – Local Institutions – University – R&D Institutions partnership that not only materialise new technologies and products but also meet the requirement of faculty and human resource development in the processes of technology development and commercialisation. Bigger companies also source new technologies or sponsor new technology development from these outfits. Other indirect advantages are the increase in entrepreneurship base and employment. The year-wise growth of STEPs and TBIs upto 2005 and the institutes housing them are shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3 respectively.

Entrepreneurship Development Cell (EDC) is the other major scheme of NSTEDB instituted with a mission to develop an institutional mechanism for providing various services including information to budding S&T entrepreneurs; creating entrepreneurial culture, fostering better linkages between the parent institution, industries and R&D agencies in the region and other related organisations engaged in promoting SMEs including Non-Government Organisations (NGOs); catalysing and promoting development of S&T based enterprises and promoting employment opportunities; and responding effectively to the emerging challenges and opportunities both at national and international level relating to SMEs and micro enterprises. The EDCs are established in academic institutions with requisite expertise and infrastructure. EDCs have been set up in 55 academic institutions of which 37 were already being supported by December 2008.

Fig 2

Fig 2: Year-wise Establishment of STEPs and TBIs

Fig 3

Fig 3: Types of Institutes Hosting TBIs and STEPs

NSTEDB in partnership with Federation for Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has launched a Technology Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship Service (TIME IS), which is a website providing all information required by the industry to promote technology development and commercialisation with/without partnership with R&D agencies i.e. information on industrial promotion policies; incentive schemes; industrial infrastructure facilities; new technologies; technology/equipment sources; funding options; open learning programmes on entrepreneurship; technology trends and ST Entrepreneur magazine.

Industrial R&D Promotion Programme: In order to promote the R&D activities in the industry and non-profit organisations several measures were evolved. A scheme was launched by DSIR to grant recognition to non-commercial voluntary Scientific & Industrial Organisations (SIROs) to enable them to be eligible for customs and excise duties on capital equipment, spares and consumables required for scientific research. 570 SIROs have been recognised by DSIR by the 2008-09 that are engaged in R&D in the areas of agriculture, medical, natural and applied sciences.

Home Grown Technology Programme and the Programme Aimed at Technological Self-Reliance: The GOI instituted the Home Grown Technology Programme (HGT) in 1993 and the Programme Aimed at Technological Self-Reliance (PATSER, now a component of TDDP) for supporting the knowledge and technology generation through partnerships from laboratory stage to pilot scale or prototype development stage. TIFAC and DSIR respectively coordinate these two programmes. In both the programmes the industry identifies a particular innovation, which would be useful for up-gradation of an existing technology or it explores the possibility of any new technology. Industry along with the technology provider, which could be an R&D agency, approaches the government and the support in the form of grants or loans is given to the industry for prototype development, pilot plant establishment, test and evaluation of products, user trials etc. This is the stage where intense interaction between the R&D organization and industry is required.

The HGT programme promotes Indian capabilities for development of contemporary and novel products and processes. Operating in a project mode it catalyses R&D efforts and fosters closer linkages between the R&D agencies and the industry. Financial support under HGT is available on soft terms and the repayment is spread over a period of 5 years after successful completion of the project. The unique feature of HGT is the techno-managerial support mechanism of TIFAC for which purpose a separate group of experts is set up by TIFAC to guide each project. From the initiation of the scheme in 1992-93, till 2005-06, HGT has supported 77 projects, out of which 60 have been completed and the remaining are in different phases of completion. TIFAC’s contribution of Rs. 34.6 crores has catalyzed industry contribution of about Rs.70 crores. As regards the outcome of the 60 completed projects, 77% of these have resulted in commercially deployable technologies, out of which 46% have actually been commercialized. The important ones include pick and place robotic arm, HFC134-A standardised eco-friendly natural dyes, plasma incinerator for hospital wastes, eco-friendly kerosene substitute for printing industry, etc.

The PATSER aims to promote industry’s efforts in development and demonstration of indigenous technologies, development of capital goods and absorption of imported technologies. The Government uses PATSER to catalyse the design, development, prototyping and commercialisation of innovations in and by the industry by means of financial support and institutional networking. NRDC manages the IP generated from the PATSER projects and also licenses the know-how so generated to other industries in India and abroad. The DSIR provides on a selective basis, partial financial support to research, development, design and engineering projects to be proposed by industry in the areas of the development and demonstration of new or improved product and process technologies, including those for specialised capital goods, for both domestic and export markets, as well as for absorption and up-gradation of imported technology.

Since its inception 193 R&D projects of industrial units of important industries such as metallurgy, electrical, electronics, instrumentation, mechanical engineering, earth moving and industrial machinery, chemicals and explosives, were supported under PATSER upto FY 2007-2008. Out of these 111 projects have been completed resulting in commercialisation of over 35 technologies/prototypes. Currently 31 companies are paying royalty/lump sum to DSIR as per the terms of the agreement. The programme has strengthened the linkages of industry with more than 30 research institutes/laboratories. TDDP has been expanded by adding two more components, namely “TDDP-Small Business” and “TDDP-Start Up”.

Patent Facilitating Centre: Realising the important role of IP protection in gaining an advantageous position in the competitive technological game for achieving economic growth a Patent Facilitating Centre (PFC) was set up by DST under TIFAC in 1995. PFC was created as a single window facility to serve these institutions with a friendly approach and has been successfully reaching out to remote universities and R&D centres.

Technology Development Board: In September 1996, for the purpose of the development and application of indigenous technology in a dynamic economic environment, GOI enabled the placing of the proceeds of an existent cess @5% on all payments made by the industry towards the import of a technology into a fund called “Fund for Technology Development and Application” and to administer this fund the government constituted the Technology Development Board (TDB). Of the total of Rs. 1,279.16 crore from R&D cess collection during the year 1996-2007, the Government has made available to TDB a cumulative sum of Rs. 482.42 crore over the period of 11 years (1996-2007), which is 37.71% of the R&D cess collections made in 11 years.TDB is a unique organization of its kind within the Government framework with the sole objective of translating the fruits of indigenous research into commercial products or services. It plays a pro-active role by encouraging commercial enterprises to take up technology-oriented projects of future importance in all sectors. The Board encourages industry to enter into hi-tech hi-risk areas and motivates industry to have firmer linkages with R&D. The board facilitates proactive dialogues between industry, scientists, technocrats and specialists and works in close association with industry bodies such as FlCCl and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). It provides equity capital or soft loans at interest rate of 5% per annum to the industry and financial assistance to R&D agencies wanting to commercialise an indigenous development or imported technology for wider usage. The repayment of the loan together with interest thereon commences one year after the project is successfully completed or before the end of the fourth year from the date of disbursement of the loan, whichever is earlier. The loan amount along with the interest due thereon becomes recoverable in five annual instalments.

The TDB programme has made its mark in the technology development scene. During 1996-2007 the Board signed 173 agreements with the total project cost of Rs. 2,671.09 crore involving TDB’s commitment of Rs. 780.95 crore against which TDB has disbursed Rs. 690.80 crore. The majority of the projects have been in the health, road transpiration, engineering, chemicals and IT sectors. Over 140 industries have so far been supported in the last few years and many products such as Hepatitis-B Vaccine, Lithium Ion Batteries, High Strength Alloys etc, have been successfully commercialised. The Board is supporting the ambitious project of commercialising indigenously designed multi-role aircraft.

In the recent past, with an aim to enhance its scope of commercialization of emerging technologies, TDB has partnered with the Unit Trust of India (UTI) and APIDC Venture Capital Funds to widen its scope with a view to leverage investment in innovative projects and has also supported R&D initiatives by the incubators through Seed Support Fund.

Technopreneur Promotion Programme: In its endeavour to tap the vast innovative potential of the individual innovators having original ideas, the Government in August 1998 launched a novel programme known as Technopreneur Promotion Programme (TePP) institutionalised by DSIR with support from 20 outreach centres. The programme aims to promote and support untapped creativity of individual innovators; to assist the individual innovators to become technology based entrepreneurs and to assist the technopreneurs in networking and forge linkages with other constituents of the innovation chain for commercialisation of their developments. The selected & screened individual innovators having original ideas are provided financial support for converting them into working models, prototypes etc.

New Millennium Indian Technology Leadership Initiative: Another programme focusing on R&D agency – industry partnership, known as the New Millennium Indian Technology Leadership Initiative (NMITLI) was initiated by the Government in FY 2000-01 with the aim to help India attain global technology leadership position in select niche areas in a ‘Team India’ partnership mode, that fulfil national objectives. NMITLI therefore looks beyond present day technologies and seeks to build, capture and retain for India a leadership position based on technology by synergising the best competencies of publicly funded R&D institutions, academia and industry. The CSIR was given the responsibility to coordinate this massive programme.

NMITLI scheme provides funds in the form of grant-in-aid to R&D agencies, SIROs, Public Sector Units (PSUs) as well as NGOs and soft loan with 3% interest to industries for the joint project of 3-4 years duration. The quantum of funding depends on the nature of the projects, their attractiveness and feasibility criteria, risk factors and ability to capture the global leadership position. The funds are released to the individual partners only after the involved partners enter into a legal agreement with CSIR. The repayment of the loan component as well as interest by the industry partners is in 10 equal yearly instalments, which commences within six months of the completion of the project. With over 270 public R&D institutes/laboratories and 80 private industries networked together to implement 57 networked projects in diverse areas including Agriculture & Plant Biotechnology, General Biotechnology, Bioinformatics, Drugs & Pharmaceuticals, Chemicals, Materials, Information and Communication Technology and Energy with an initial outlay of Rs. 500 Cr., NMITLI is among the largest partnership facilitating programme in India today.

Relevance and Excellence in Achieving New Heights in Educational Institutions: On 24^th July 2003, recognising the importance of supply of suitable human resource for accomplishing the technology development and commercialisation, for example, joint designing by academia-industry of the curricula in line with the business and market requirements, providing training and exposure, TIFAC launched a Technology Vision 2020 Mission Project called Relevance and Excellence in Achieving New Heights in Educational Institutions (REACH). The scheme aims to create a constellation of world class Centres of Relevance and Excellence (COREs) in diverse disciplines across the length and breadth of the country. Mission REACH intends to create 80-100 such COREs, which together will emerge as a network of mini IITs across the country, integrally connected physically and electronically through a mix of landline and V-SAT networking. By FY 2005-06, 26 TIFAC-COREs in various disciplines had been set up in smaller places which function in a tightly networked manner. For the first time these front-line entities are made to address vocational training requirements of the industries, a service that has not been forthcoming from them hitherto. The credibility of TIFAC-COREs and Mission REACH has increased over the years which is evident from the fact that financial stakes by industry and institute in the projects is increasing.

Sector Specific Partnership Enabling Programmes

The GOI has been promoting the R&D agency - industry partnership mechanisms in sectors specified below:

Automotive Sector: A Core Group on Automotive R&D was set up in 2003/2004 under DST involving the government, R&D agencies and industry. The Core Group aims at identifying frontier technologies. Based on the interactions and strengths available in the country, embedded control systems, telematics, hydrogen-powered vehicles, advanced materials and road safety are identified as focus areas. The uniqueness of this initiative is that the driver is the industry, which wants access to the latent technological capabilities in the public funded institutions.

Drugs & Pharmaceuticals: Another innovation enabling partnership has been in the upcoming field of biotechnology, particularly, drugs and pharmaceuticals. On the advice of the Planning Commission DST initiated the Drugs & Pharma Research Programme (DPRD) in the FY 1994-95 with an aim to synergise strengths of publicly funded R&D agencies and Indian pharmaceutical Industry. Under DPRD, the DST provides grants to the R&D agencies, 100% for equipment and 70% of the total recurring expenditure, to prove the bench scale feasibility of the research. The remaining 30% recurring expenses are met by the participating industry. Since its inception till January 2009: 86 research projects have been supported resulting in filing of 6 product patents and 13 process patents, development of new chemical entities, vaccines, assay systems and drug delivery systems, and setting up national facilities. A peptide based anti-cancer drug for the treatment of colorectal cancer by Dabur Research Foundation is under Phase-II of clinical trial.

In FY 2004-05 DST had established a Pharmaceuticals Research and Development Support Fund (PRDSF) to support the Drugs & Pharma Research Programme in the country by extending soft loans @ 3% to the industry at the bench level feasibility stage of the research projects. A Drug Development Promotion Board (DDPB) under the administrative control of DST has been constituted to operationalise the PRDSF. The Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Research Programme (DPRD) has now been merged with PRDSF.

Biotechnology: The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) has established special mechanisms for enabling technology transfer to industry for commercialisation and large-scale use. These are, for example, the Micro-propagation Technology Parks (MTP) based on existing expertise and infrastructure of the two tissue culture pilot plant facilities at NCL, Pune and TERI, New Delhi. As the experience has been rewarding, DBT is promoting the concept of MTP to provide an interface between the R&D agencies and industry. It is important to cite the example of a technology for teak that has already been transferred to an international laboratory of UK.

For promotion, transfer and commercialisation of biotechnologies DBT established Biotech Consortium India Ltd. (BCIL) as a public limited company in 1990 under the Indian Companies Act 1956. BCIL is promoted by the financial institutions including IDBI, ICICI, UTI, IFCI and IFCI Venture Capital (VC) Funds Limited and the corporate sector including Ranbaxy Laboratories, Glaxo India, Cadila Laboratories, Lupin Laboratories, etc. which have since contributed Rs. 5.37 Cr. towards its core capital. It works in close association with them for syndication of funds for eligible biotech projects in addition to facilitating technology transfer. Over 9 technologies such as Biopesticides, ELISA, HIV-1/2, Hepititis A and reproductive hormones diagnostics etc. have been transferred to industry through BCIL from academic institutions like Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and various R&D agencies. So far more than 60 technologies and research leads from the Government funded R&D projects have been transferred by BCIL to Indian industries for scale up, validation and commercialization. Some of these products such as leprosy vaccine, HIV and hepatitis diagnostic kits, natural streptokinase, veterinary diagnostics, etc. are already in the market and some others are in pipeline.

With an aim to promote and compliment the R&D effort of the Indian biotech industry, DBT launched a scheme named “Small Business Innovation Research Initiative” (SBIRI) in 2005 to support early stage, pre-proof-of-concept research in biotechnology by industry; support late stage development and commercialisation of new indigenous technologies particularly those related to societal needs in the healthcare, food and nutrition, agriculture, environment and other sectors; nurture and mentor innovative and emerging technologies/entrepreneurs; and to assist new enterprises to forge appropriate linkages with academia and government. The basic purpose of the scheme is to strengthen existing private industrial units whose product development is based on in-house innovative R&D, encourage other smaller businesses to increase their R&D capabilities and capacity and cultivate the entrepreneurial spirit by creating opportunities for starting new technology-based or knowledge-based businesses by science entrepreneurs.

DBT arranges national consultations after every three to six months to generate ideas in different sectors of biotechnology namely medical, agriculture, food, industry and environment.

Under this scheme DBT supports projects made solely by an in-house R&D unit(s) of the industrial firms; or by one or a group of industries/users in partnership with the national R&D organizations. SBIRI considers supporting only the capital investment on recurring costs. The scheme operates in two phases viz. for establishment of pre-proof-of-concepts of innovations and for product and process development. Its unique feature is that in both the phases, projects are implemented at the industry site. In Phase – I the following structure of funding is available to industry:

80% of the project cost as grant for projects costing upto Rs. 25 lakhs.
50% of the project cost as grant for projects costing between Rs. 25 lakhs and Rs. 100 lakhs, subject to a minimum of Rs. 20 lakhs and maximum of Rs. 50 lakhs.
Govt. grant of Rs. 50 lakhs and interest free loan upto 50% of the project cost (subject to a limit of Rs. 50 lakhs) for projects costing beyond Rs. 100 lakhs

Soft loan upto Rs. 10 crores is considered for a project in Phase–II, which is available at simple interest rate of 1% for loan upto Rs. 100 lakhs and at 2% for loan amounting to more than Rs. 100 lakhs. The role of public R&D institutions at this stage too is critical, as many of the projects would continue to require technical support from the public funded R&D institutions. The partner in the public institution at this stage gets the R&D support as grant.

Uptill FY 2008-09, 37 projects had been sanctioned to 32 companies, which are worth Rs 155 crore. The private sector has committed an investment of around 48 percent of the total while the rest would be from SBIRI funds of the government. A sum of Rs 45 crore has been released to companies till date, out of which 16 projects are in the health sector, nine for industrial product and process development and eight in agriculture and allied areas. So far the biotech industry in the southern region has shown the maximum interest with Karnataka being the topmost state to submit proposals followed by Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Delhi.

Space: The Department of Space (DOS) has established a symbiotic partnership with Indian industries. DOS has established linkages with more than 500 industries (by the year 2005) in the small, medium and large-scale sectors, either through procurement contracts, know-how transfers or provision of technical consultancy. A Group on Technology Transfer and Industrial Consultancy was set up at the ISRO Headquarters to deal with all matters concerning transfer of technology developed by various laboratories of DOS. Till 2005, 285 technologies were transferred to industries for commercialisation and more than 270 technical consultancies were undertaken in various areas relevant to space technology in the broad areas of electro-mechanical, chemical and optics hardware to specialised software. DOS has formulated an Industry Participation Policy. The components of the policy include setting up of the modalities for identification of industries, commitment from DOS to these industries, utilisation of human resources and facilities available within the DOS, incentives for industries to promote space technology, etc. Sponsored Research Programme (RESPOND) of DOS has the main objective to strengthen the academic interaction through collaborative research, educational and scientific activities at the academic institutions. DOS operates a ‘Technology Utilisation/Vendor Development’ programme to establish closer partnership with the Indian industries for maximal utilisation of the industrial capability. In 1992 DOS established a company named ‘Antrix Corporation Limited’ at Bangalore, which is the apex marketing agency with access to resources of DOS as well as Indian space industries. Antrix markets subsystems and components for satellites, undertakes order for satellites to user specifications, provides launch services and tracking facilities and also organises training of manpower and software development. ISRO’s patent portfolio upto 2005 consisted of more than 205 patents, 10 trademarks and 22 copyrights.

Cooperative Research Associations: The Government has encouraged setting up of cooperative research associations in selected areas, viz., textile, building materials, rubber, tea, automobiles and electricals with active involvement of the industry. The government and the member industries jointly finance these cooperative associations. As per the experience of DSIR, the cooperative research concept has not grown adequately and that further encouragement is needed to enable this concept to flourish to the advantage of industry.

Summary of GOI Initiatives

Under the zero based budgeting exercise DSIR has formulated the Technology Promotion, Development and Utilization (TPDU) programme by merging several existing government schemes, viz. RDI; PATSER; Scheme to Enhance the Efficacy of Transfer of Technology (SEETOT) and the related activity of APCTT. The specific components of the scheme include Industrial R&D Promotion Programme; Technology Development and Innovation Programme; Technology Management Programme; International Technology Transfer Programme; Consultancy Promotion Programme; and Industrial R&D and Technology Information Facilitation Programme.

Table 1 lists out the GOI initiatives that support the partnership between R&D agencies and industry. Figure 4 depicts the placement of such partnerships vis-à-vis their coverage of market and technology certainty levels.

Table 1: Major GOI Initiatives promoting R&D Agency-Industry Partnership, 1953-2005

Name of Agency/Programme	Name of Programme/Purpose	Launch Year	Accomplishments
NRDC	Transfer of Technologies	1953	Strong links with Indian / foreign R&D agencies; large repository of wide range of technologies in almost all industrial R&D sector; has successfully exported technologies to Brazil, Burma, Bangladesh, Germany, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippine, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and USA
NSTDEB of DST	S&T Entrepreneurship Programme (STEP)	1984-85	17 STEP’s established near educational and research infrastructure to facilitate continued closer ties between R&D agencies and industry
NSTEDB of DST	Entrepreneurship Development Cell (EDC)	1986	EDC set up in 55 academic institutions to provide info to budding technopreneurs; creating entrepreneurial culture, fostering better parent institute – industries - R&D agencies linkages.
DSIR	Programme Aimed at Technological Self-Reliance (PATSER) (now called TDDP)	1987	193 projects supported. 111 projects completed resulting in commercialisation of 35 technologies / prototypes; linkages of industry with < 30 research institutes. 31 companies paying royalty / lump sum.
DOS	Technology Transfer and Industrial Consultancy Group	~1990	~ 285 technologies of ISRO have been transferred to industries for commercialisation and more than 270 consultancy assignments have been undertaken by ISRO for small, medium and large-scale industries
DBT	Biotech Consortium India Ltd. (BCIL)	1990	Provides linkages amongst res. institutions, industry, government and funding institutions to facilitate accelerated commercialisation of biotechnology. ~60 technologies transferred to industry.
TIFAC	Home Grown Technology (HGT)	1993	77 projects supported upto 2005-06 of which 60 completed resulting, of which 46% commercialised
DST	Drugs & Pharma Research Programme (DPRD)	1995	86 projects supported resulting in development of 6 products and filing of 13 process patents. (merged with PRDSF)
TDB	Converts fruits of indigenous res. into commercial products	1996	173 projects of over 140 industries resulting in development of many industries, rise of new industry (revised from the summary which says 131 projects of 107 industries)
DBT	Micro-propagation Technology Parks (MTP)	1997	2 MTPs at TERI and NCL; State-of-the-art tissue culture production facility with an annual production capacity of 2 million plants at TERI
CSIR	New Millennium Indian Technology Leadership Initiative (NMITLI)	2001	57 projects with an outlay of Rs. 500 Cr supported resulting in development and commercialisation of several major technologies and networking of 270 public R&D institutes and 80 private industries
NSTEDB of DST	Technology Business Incubator (TBI)	2001	16 TBIs established to provide hand holding, mentoring, specialised support services and networking during start-up phase of an enterprise
DST	Pharmaceuticals R&D Support Fund (PRDSF)	2005	As of 2005 alliances of R&D agencies with 50 Indian industries established resulting in development of new chemical entities, vaccines, assay systems and drug delivery systems at a total investment of Rs. 9 Cr.
DBT	Small Business Innovation Research Initiative (SBIRI)	2005	37 projects sanctioned (worth Rs 155 crs) to 32 companies assuring private sector investment out of which 16 are in health, 9 for industrial product and process development and 8 in agriculture and allied areas.

Fig 4

Fig 4: Level of Market Certainty and Technology Certainty Supported Under GOI Programmes Supporting Partnerships

Partnership Enabling Initiatives of Some Select Scientific/Academic and industrial Institutions

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research: The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) was established in 1942 as a non-profit organization with a variety of functions, ranging from promotion, guidance and coordination of scientific and industrial research, to founding of laboratories to further scientific and industrial research and exploitation of the research results for development of industry. CSIR today is a multidisciplinary, multi-location set-up comprising of thirty seven laboratories and thirty nine outreach centres. During Eleventh Five Year Plan, it is implementing six plan schemes viz. (i) National Laboratories’, National S&T Human Resource Development’, R&D management Support’, ‘Intellectual Property & Technology Management’, ‘New Millennium Indian Technology Leadership Initiative’, and ‘Institute of Translational Research’. Under National Laboratories scheme, CSIR as on January 2009 is implementing 96 projects covering all the areas of Science & Technology except Nuclear, Space and Atomic Energy. The projects comprise of 32 Supra-institutional projects, 46 Network projects, 7 Inter-agency projects and 11 Facility creation projects. The Planning Commission has approved these programmes. The flagship programmes viz, development and production of 14-seater small aircraft ‘SARAS’ involving National Aerospace Laboratories, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited; and Biotechnology programmes in the area of Drugs & Pharmaceuticals involve partners from CSIR institutes, academia and industry. Some of the important initiatives are described below.

New Drug Development Programme: CSIR initiated a programme on New Drug Discovery in 1997 by pooling and networking existing resources of its institutes. Apart from 20 CSIR laboratories, the traditional knowledge based industry, and 13 universities are actively participating in this job. CSIR is working jointly with traditional medicine industry namely Arya Vaidya Sala (AVS), which is a non-profit making organisation, and Central Council of Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM) of the Ministry of Health to screen selected medicinal plants and traditional preparations for deriving newer leads for drug development.

This coordinated programme has provided many leads on new chemical entities and new herbal formulations for cancer, tuberculosis, filarial, malaria, ulcer, and dementia. Interesting leads have been obtained on hepato-protective, immuno-modulation as well as dementia. Toxicity studies of antiulcer lead and antidementia leads have been completed. Few more leads for the identification of disease conditions are in hand for further study.

NMITLI: Based on the experience of CSIR in managing and implementing the networked programmes, CSIR was given the responsibility to coordinate NMITLI

The Centre for Genome Application: The Institute of Genomics & Integrative Biology (IGIB), a constituent institute under CSIR, and The Chatterjee Group based in Kolkata and USA through the Institute of Molecular Medicine have set up the Genomic Application Research Facility, namely The Centre for Genome Application (TCGA) at New Delhi in May 2004 with 50:50 financial participation of DST and The Chatterjee Group. This is for the first time, that any research institution in India has looked at opportunities in core-shared research facility by leveraging their domain specialization and accessing competencies to provide high quality platform for scientific research. The main objectives of TCGA include Speeding up Research; Core Sharing facility for genomics and proteomic services; Nurturing Entrepreneurs; Incubator laboratories for start up entrepreneurs; Enabling Discovery and providing Laboratory facilities to scientists of national and international fame to implement their vision. The Centre has since grown as a world class facility.

Open Source Drug Discovery: an innovative Internet-based ‘Open Source Drug Discovery’ (OSDD) programme was launched by CSIR on 15^th September 2008 to eliminate the scourge of infectious diseases that afflict the developing world. The Indian Government has committed Rs. 150 crores (US $38 million) towards this project of which 46 crores (US $12 million) has already been released. An equivalent amount of funding is proposed to be raised from international agencies and philanthropists.

OSDD, a Team India Consortium with Global Partnership, believes in knowledge sharing and constructive collaboration. It serves as a global platform where the best minds can collaborate & collectively endeavour to solve the complex problems associated with discovering novel therapies for neglected tropical diseases like Malaria, Tuberculosis, Leshmaniasis, etc. It is a concept to collaboratively aggregate the biological and genetic information available to scientists in order to use it to hasten the discovery of drugs. The initiative provides a unique opportunity for scientists, doctors, technocrats, students and others with diverse expertise to work for a common cause. Several scientists from research institutes and universities from India and abroad as well industrial partners are participating in this unique initiative.

Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (IIT, Delhi): In 1992 the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi set up a TTO named ‘Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT)’, as an autonomous registered society and interface organisation and has since been serving as a single window service to industry, drawing upon IIT Delhi as the primary resource. Keeping in view that graduating students of IIT Delhi complete more than 700 industry projects every year and of these at least 5-10 could be potentially commercialisable ideas, IIT Delhi initiated the ‘Students-Faculty Led Incubation Program for Initiating Technology Start-Ups’ through FITT. In the Incubation process FITT motivates students along with faculty supervisors to spend 6-24 months in IIT Delhi to upgrade/package technology ready for transfer to industry, that could be converted into “business”, developing and marketing products and services or be acquired by an existing company. The graduate students, FITT, IIT and faculty members are the stakeholders in the incubation process. IIT Delhi has established its own TBI. The first company ‘KRITIKAL Solutions Ltd.’ physically moved into this TBI in Sept. 2002. By 2005, four companies were housed there. FITT also operates a scheme of ‘Corporate Membership’ It may be noted that joint centres have been set up by the industries like IBM and Monsanto in academic institutions like IIT Delhi as well as at IISc, Bangalore.

Society for Innovation and Development (IISc, Bangalore): The Society for Innovation and Development (SID) was founded in 1991 in close collaboration with IISc to enable India's innovations in S&T; by creating a purposeful and effective channel to help industries and business establishments to compete and prosper in the face of global competition, turbulent market conditions and fast moving technologies. Since its inception 389 research projects were initiated till July 2006 of which 100 were completed by 2005 and 142 by March 2006. By 2005 SID was already housing eight R&D Centres of Indian industries such as, Cadila Pharmaceutical Ltd., Cookson Electronics India Research Centre., Satyam Computer Services Limited, Cranes Software International Ltd., Himachal Futuristic Communication Limited, etc.

Confederation of Indian Industries: Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), an industry association, is operating an innovative scheme called ‘CII TDB Technology Transfer Centres’ Network (CII TDB T NET)’ to bring industry closer to R&D agencies Presently 18 such Centres are operating at various technical universities across the country.

Innovation Centre of Entrepreneurship Development Institute: The Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI), an autonomous body, set up in 1983, sponsored by apex financial institutions, viz. IDBI, IFCI, ICICI and State Bank of India (SBI) and supported by Government of Gujarat is committed to entrepreneurship education, training and research. To achieve its objectives EDI with sponsorship of NSTEDB of DST has set up an Innovation Centre, which is a national facility for innovations and prepares and maintains `Data Bank’ on innovative projects and new and advanced technologies.

Initiatives of Financial Institutions for promoting R&D Agency-Industry Partnerships

Venture Capital: The GOI guidelines for venture capital funds (VCF) were first issued in 1988; the guidelines for overseas investors were issued in 1995; and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) VCF regulations were issued in 1996. In 1988 the Technical Development and Information Corporation of India (TDICI, now ICICI Ventures) was set up, soon followed by Gujarat Venture Finance Limited (GVFL) and Andhra Pradesh Industrial Development Corporation (APIDC) in early 90s, followed by entry of Foreign VC funds between 1995-1999 and emergence of successful India-centric VC firms from 2000 onwards. Thus the Indian VC industry is very young. The first origins of modern VC in India can be traced to the setting up of a Technology Development Fund (TDF) in the year 1987-88 by the Government through the levy of a cess on all technology import payments. Though young by international comparison, the Indian VC industry has matured fast. Today there are about 150 VCFs (Government, Overseas, Corporate, and Domestic). The VC activity in India is mainly concentrated in a few places like Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi and Chennai.

The VC firms as a rule do not participate at the initial stage and generally concentrate on projects that have prospects of fast growth. VC firms use high discount rates of around 40-50% in a period of 3-5 years while evaluating the projects. This restricts the VC firms to fund a number of R&D projects, that could be otherwise viable but do not meet their stringent criteria. Certain VCF are industry specific in that they fund enterprises only in certain industries such as pharmaceuticals, IT or food processing, whereas others may have a much wider spectrum. Again, certain funds may have a geographic focus like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala, etc, whereas the others may fund across different territories.

Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India Bank Limited: The Technology Group of Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI) funds new initiatives and for the World Bank the ICICI is implementing the Sponsored Research and Development Programme (SPREAD), design of which was finalised after extensive discussions with the industry, CSIR and other R&D agencies. The main objectives of the SPREAD programme is to encourage industry to substantially increase their R&D activities SPREAD programme supports projects at all stages of the R&D cycle starting from laboratory and pre-feasibility studies to prototyping and pilot plant operations. Projects are eligible only if the proposed development period is under 2 years. Assistance under SPREAD is limited to 50% of the cost of project or Rs. 1.5 Cr. The programme provided for a concessional interest @ 6.0% per annum for the development period (under 2 years) and then at near market rate of 15% per annum during the commercialisation phase. Under the SPREAD programme upto 2005, ICICI had assisted 101 projects with an aggregate assistance of about Rs. 70 Cr. Out of these, 48 have been commercialised indicating a high success rate for R&D funding. Three industrial sectors, namely pharma/biotechnology, electricals/electronics and chemicals/petrochemical constituted ~65 % of the portfolio and the projects in these sectors got success rates of over 50%. The number of projects supported under the scheme increased to 131 with the total sanction of Rs. 1,495 million by April 2009. It can be seen that CSIR laboratories and institutes of higher education (including IITs) played a major role in the success of the programme.

Fig 5

Fig 5: Industrial Sectors of Projects supported by ICICI under SPREAD*

Source: Technology Group of ICICI

Table 2: R&D Agencies that partnered more than one SPREAD Project

Name of the Project Implementing Institute	Number
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre	2
Electronics Research and Development Corporation	3
Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad	7
Indian Institute of Petroleum	4
Indian Institute of Science	8
IIT, Mumbai	8
IIT, Chennai	5
IIT, Delhi	3
National Chemical Laboratory, Pune	11
Regional Research Centres	4
University Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai	7

Source: Technology Group of ICICI

Industrial Development Bank of India: Technology Financing Scheme of the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) focuses on commercialisation of indigenous technology, adapting imported technology to wider domestic applications and projects envisaging higher than normal risk with potential for commensurate high returns. It prefers financing the technology development at the start-up level and provides the support in the form of equity, conditional and convertible loans (preference share). Its target return for 5-6 years has been 30% on equity investment.

Small Industry Development Bank of India: The Technology Development and Modernisation Fund Scheme of Small Industry Development Bank of India (SIDBI) was launched to provide support in purchase of capital equipment, need-based civil works and acquisition of additional land and need based additional margin money for working capital; acquisition of technical know-how, designs, and the like. The existing units in SSI sector which go in for modernisation / technology up-gradation and that have been in operation for at least three years, are eligible for support under this scheme. Units graduating out of SSI are also eligible, within the overall ceiling of Rs. 37.5 million for investment in plant & machinery. Assistance under this scheme is given by way of term loan in rupee currency or foreign currency. In select cases SIDBI may consider participating in equity also depending upon the exit route available to SIDBI for disinvestments in due course.

Table 3 gives an account till 2005 of the various technology development funding mechanisms under different schemes and programs of the government.

Table 3: Technology Development Funding Mechanisms launched till 2005

S. No.	Name of Scheme / Implementing Body	Stage of Tech. Development	Recipient Category	Quantum of Funding	Type of Funding Assistance
1.	Scientific Ministries/ Departments	-Basic research -Exploratory research -Capability Building	-Govt funded institutes -Institutes of higher learning –Major Universities	US$500-100,000 except for capacity building	100% grant
2.	-TePP, -NRDC’s Patent Protection Scheme -Technology Innovation Board	-Idea stage -Patenting stage -Prototyping -Field demo	-Individuals -Start up SSIs -NGOs	Upto $12,000	90% grant 10% by recipient
3.	DPRD, DST	Bench scale	R&D agency jointly with industry partner		70% grant to R&D agency
4.	NMITLI, CSIR	-Basic research -Lab feasibility	R&D agency jointly with industry partner		Soft loan @ 3%
3.	-Scientific / Societal Promotion Ministries / Departments -Tech. Missions	Application oriented R&D for societal needs	-State S&T Councils -Extension Centres -NGO’s	Up to $10,000	50% grant
4.	HGT of TIFAC, DST	After lab scale for Pilot Plant / Semi Commercial Plant (Science driven projects)	R&D Institute / University, but jointly with industry partner	$5000 - $350,000	Up to 75% grant to institution & upto 25% @6% interest to industry partner
5.	PATSER, DSIR	For pilot stage only	-Industry having in-house R&D -Industry jointly with institute / university	$10,000 - $1.5 million	Up to 50% grant but royalty to be paid to NRDC
6.	Industry Sponsored Research Programme	Any stage prior to commercialisation	R&D Institute / University	No limit (generally up to $200,000	100% grant but weightage Tax deduction and exclu-sive rights upto 5 yrs
7.	TDB, DST	Setting up first pilot plant for development and commercialising indigenous tech. or for adapting imported tech.	Any Industry / R&D Institution	No limit (generally $100,000 – 10 million)	Up to 50% of project cost as loan @5% interest, or up to 50% equity to industry and grants to R&D institutions
8.	SBIRI, DBT	Phaes I: pre-proof-of-concept research Phase II: product & process evelopment	-in-house R&D unit(s) of industrial firms; alone -Jointly by Industry (or a group of industry) and R&D agencies	Phase I: upto100 lakhs Phas II: upto 10 crs.	Most funding as grant Phase I: 80% as grant for projects upto Rs 25 lakhs; 50% as grant for projects between Rs 25 – Rs 50 lakhs; and Rs 50 lakhs grant + soft loan upto 50 lakhs for projects over Rs 100 lakhs. Phase-II - Soft loan @ 1% upto Rs 100 lakhs & 2% between 100 lakhs to Rs 10 crs.
9.	NRDC Equity / Loan Scheme	For demo / commercial plant	NRDC’s Licensee Company only	$20,000-$120,000	Upto 50% equity or equity loan combination
10.	VC Funds of Public Sector Banks	Commercial Plant	Any industry	No specified limit	Equity/loan at 9% interest
11.	Private Sector VCF’s jointly by TDB, NRDC, Banks, etc.	Commercial Plant	Any industry	No specified limit	Equity/loan on case to case basis

A comparative of Partnership Promoting Efforts of Select Countries

Almost all developed countries and the countries with fast emerging economies have diverse S&T collaborative programmes, whether general or sector-specific, networking the universities, research institutes and industry. As evident, India is quite at par with the developed countries in the variety of schemes/programmes through which the R&D agencies and industries/SMEs are funded by the government and its affiliated bodies at every stage of development. Indian partnership programmes do encourage participation of academic institutions. In so far as the S&T Parks are concerned, India is in the right direction and is at par with the developed countries. Such parks have been established in premier institutes of India and many technologies have emerged as a result of the activities in these parks. However, efforts need to be strengthened on clusters, regional technology development, TTOs and Discussion Forum for identifying future areas of importance. Table 4 presents the specific features of the major initiatives taken up in select developed countries and those with fast emerging economies, including India, for accelerating the innovation and development of technology and its transfer/commercialisation particularly through partnerships between R&D agencies and industry.

Table 4: Initiatives in Select Countries for enhancing Development, Transfer and Commercialisation of Innovation and Technology

Objective	Means	Country	Initiative	Salient Features
Development, transfer and commer-cialisation of innovation and technology through networking between universities, research institutes and industry	S&T collaborative programmes	USA	CRADA (Coop. R&D Agreement) of NIST, 1980	Speeding up commercialisation of federally developed technologies through resource optimisation, and sharing of technical expertise and IP emerging from the joint effort
		USA	ATP (Advanced Tech. Prog.) of NIST, Early 80’s	Cost sharing with industry; Encouraging industry to invest in longer-term, high-risk research with payoffs far beyond private profit; Helping industry to raise competitive potential
		Japan	ERATO, JST, 1981	Bringing together researchers from university, industry and from abroad. A nation-wide prog. Annually funds 4 new res. teams for undertaking exchanges for a 5-year period.
		UK	TCS (Teaching Company Scheme) of DTI, 1975	Facilitate technology transfer; Encourage industrial investment in training and R&D; Provide industry-based training supervised jointly by personnel in science, engineering and technology base and in business; Collaborative R&D projects
			Foresight LINK Awards, 1995	Increased interaction between industry and academia by providing matching funds to consortia of business and the science base for projects under Foresight priorities.
			LINK scheme of DTI	Promote partnership in pre-competitive research between industry and research base to stimulate innovation and wealth creation, develop innovative and commercially successful products, processes and services, and improve quality of life.
			HEIF (Higher Education Innovation Fund), 2000	Give core funding to university for partnering with industry
		Korea	NRP (National R&D Prog.), 1982	Support basic research and venture technology projects and development of core technologies in high-risk fields, such as semiconductors, computers, machinery and fine chemicals for implementation by universities, research institutes and industry
			Industrial Technology Development Prog.	Encourage industries to undertake research in core areas in partnership with R&D agencies by offering support package to cover maximum risk and tax incentive, VC funds in production / marketing stages
			HAN (Highly Adv. National R&D Projects), also ‘G-7’, 1992	Large-scale projects in 17 strategic fields aimed at turning Korea into one of the top seven technologically advanced countries in partnership of R&D agencies and industry.
		China	Torch (High and Emerging Tech. Industry Dev. Prog.), 1988	Accelerate application of technology in industry and help in commercialisation of new technologies and promotion of economic growth with high-tech products competitive on local and world markets.
		China	National Prog. for Key Basic Research, 1991.	Conduct high quality research on major scientific problems, train young talents for basic research, and strengthen the build-up of high quality research contingent.
		Brazil	FUNTEC (Fund for Tech. and Scientific Dev), 1964	Support to technological research by National Bank for Economic Development
			SNDCT (National S&T Development System), 1974	Development and management of S&T in the Federal Government by bodies having interface with the generation of knowledge from basic science to its application in industrial production; Tax incentives to R&D agencies and industries; Contract incentives for postgraduate studies and research.
			Prog. under Foundations, viz. José Bonifácio / Coppetec, UFRJ	Initiatives to stimulate stronger links between universities and industries.
		India	HGT (Home Grown Techn. Prog.) of TIFAC, 1993	Knowledge and technology generation through partnerships from laboratory stage to pilot scale or prototype development stage
			PATSER (Prog. Aimed at Technological Self-Reliance) of DSIR	Part financing of industrial technology development projects; Helping industry in developing state-of-the-art technological capabilities
			TDB (Tech. Dev. Board) of DST, 1996	Translating the fruits of indigenous research into commercial products or services by providing equity capital or soft loans
			TePP (Technopreneur Promotion Prog.) of TIFAC and DSIR, 1998-99	Tapping vast innovative potential of the citizens of India; Assistance and coordination required by innovators for commercialisation of products/processes.
			NMITLI (New Millennium Indian Tech. Leadership Initiative) of CSIR, 2000-01	Landmark programme aimed at helping India attain the global technology leadership position in select niche areas in a ‘Team India’ partnership by synergising the best competencies of publicly funded R&D institutions, academia and industry.
	Sector –specific S&T collaborative programmes	USA	Space Research Partnership Centres, NASA	Network of industry, government and academic partners located at universities or research institutions to benefit space exploration, other NASA missions, and life on Earth.
		USA	PNGV (Partner-ship for New Generation of Vehicles), 1994	Inventing a prototype ‘super-efficient’ car by using the assets of national labs to an industry consortium
		Germany	IGF (Prog. for Promotion of Industrial Co-operative R&D)	Support industrial cooperative R&D through sectoral innovation networks between industry and science in a project-specific approach.
		China	National High Technology ("863") prog., 1986	Monitor emerging foreign technologies with interest in commercialising high technologies and outside S&T achievements in bio, engineering, space, IT, laser technology, automation, energy and new technology.
		Brazil	METAS project of EMBRAPA, 1993	Achieve modern technologies, products and services at lower costs and contributing to reduce the impact of agriculture on the environment by using systems approach in R&D
		India	New Drug Dev. Prog. of CSIR, 1997	Pooling and networking of existing resources of CSIR institutes to coordinate drug development and commercialisation.
			Core Group on Automotive R&D of DST, 2003 - 2004	Establish supporting infrastructure to validate vehicle developments; Encourage Indian Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to set up houses abroad to derive the location efficiencies; Develop component industry to provide full system solutions to OEMs.
			DPRP (Drugs & Pharma Res Prog.) of DST, 1994-95	Enhancing capabilities of institutions and the Indian drugs & pharmaceuticals Industry towards joint development of new drugs in all systems of medicine.
			PRDSF (Pharma R&D Support Fund), DST, 2004-05	Support drugs and pharmaceuticals research programme of industry by extending soft loans at bench level feasibility stage of the research projects.
			SBIRI (Small Business Innovation Res. Initiative), DBT, 2005	Strengthens existing private industrial units whose product development is based on in-house innovative R&D, encourages other smaller businesses to increase their R&D capabilities and capacity and cultivates the entrepreneurial spirit in socially relevant sectors including healthcare, food and nutrition, agriculture and environment.
	Centres to promote joint research activities	USA	ERC (Engineering Research Center) of NSF, 1985	Interdisciplinary centres providing intellectual foundation for industry to collaborate with universities on resolving generic, long-range challenges and producing knowledge base for steady advances in technology / speedy transition to marketplace; Interface between discovery-driven culture of science and innovation-driven culture of engineering.
		USA	STC (S&T Centre) of NSF, 1987	Fund important basic research and education activities and encourage technology transfer and innovative approaches to interdisciplinary problems
		Japan	Joint Research Centres in Universities	Implement joint projects to achieve progress towards innovation through strengthening Japan’s industrial competitiveness.
		UK	Faraday Partnerships of DTI, 1997	Establishment of Faraday Partnership Centres in specific areas to encourage greater interaction between university and industry, especially SMEs.
		India	ARCI (Int. Adv. Res. Ctr. for Powder Meta-llurgy & New Materials), 1989	Technology development and transfer centre for translating research to technology; joint development of technologies from CIS countries for bringing them to the levels of pilot plants/demonstration centres
	Thematic consortia	USA	SEMATECH Consortium of semiconductor manufacturers, 1987	Catalyst for accelerating the commercialisation of technology innovations into manufacturing solutions for creating opportunities for flexible collaboration and conducting strategic R&D to reduce the time from innovation to manufacturing
		USA	Blue Laser Consortium of DARPA	Joint hunt for a blue solid-state laser for expanding electronic information storage capacity and reducing cost.
		India	BCIL (Biotech Consortium India Ltd.), 1990	Promoted by financial institutions for promotion, transfer and commercialisation of biotechnologies
	Science / Technology Parks and Business Incubators	All selected countries	S&T Parks, Innovation Centres etc	USA, Germany, Japan, US, Korea, China and Brazil have setup S&T parks, innovation centre, incubators etc.
		India	STEP (S&T Entrepreneur-ship Parks), 1985	Established in and around academic and R&D institutions to provide mechanism for transfer of technology from R&D agency to industry to reduce the lead-time between invention, product development and its commercial application to improve competitiveness of industry
			Biotechnology Parks	In 8 such Parks the States attract entrepreneurs to set up their units and leverage on the vast talent pool and rich biodiversities in the respective states.
			Software parks	18 such Parks provide excellent Infrastructure and support aimed at furthering growth of Information Technology
			TBI (Technology Business Incubators)	16 TBIs nurture development of technology based and knowledge driven industries during the start up period by providing integrated package of workspace, office services, access to specialised equipment and value added services.
	Linking education with industrial needs	UK	Learndirect programme (‘University for Industry’)	New system of foundation degrees to provide course material to industry by local associations of colleges, universities, local authorities, trade unions, companies and business organisations for closer relationship of educational system with industry.
		UK	CASE (Collab. Awards in Sc. & Engg) of SERC	Joint projects by institutions and industry for carrying out industry relevant research by post-graduate / Ph.D. students with grants from SERC and also from an industrial partner
		India	REACH (Relevance and Excellence in Achieving New Heights in Educ. Insts) of TIFAC, 2003	Joint designing by academia-industry of the curricula in line with the business and market requirements; Providing training and exposure
	Encourage-ment for joint endeavours	India	Awards of DSIR / TDB, DST and fiscal incentives to R&D agencies and industry	Cash awards for developing technologies, absorbing / up-scaling technology developed by R&D agencies or indigenising imported technologies for commercialisation.
To promote technology development and transfer in specific regions	Setting up of thematic centres	USA	MEP (Manufac- turing Extension Partnership), Mid 80’s	Network of resources transforming manufacturers to compete globally, supporting greater supply chain integration, and providing access to technology for improved productivity.
To promote technology development and transfer in specific regions	Setting up of thematic centres	USA	MEP (Manufac- turing Extension Partnership), Mid 80’s	Network of resources transforming manufacturers to compete globally, supporting greater supply chain integration, and providing access to technology for improved productivity.
		Germany	Innovation Centres, 1983	Independent entity to provide technical support to tech-oriented start-ups and infrastructure for industry; Promote co-operation between science & economy; Promote regional development potentials for technology oriented enterprises and start-ups; Start technology park projects and technological cooperation; Support regional economic development
		Korea	RRC (Regional Res. Centres)	consortia for research associated with regional development involving local industries, universities and research institutes
	Collaborative Programmes	Germany	InnoRegio and Innovative Regional Growth Cores prog. of BMBF	Promote innovation in east German states by supporting joint projects between SMEs and research institutions
	Cluster Development	USA	Clusters-regional innovation hub of	Produce high-value products and services that support high-wage jobs. Popular examples are Silicon Valley and Route 128.
		Japan	‘CREATE : Centre of Excel. in each region’ of JST, 1996	Builds on local strengths by networking key players to contribute to the total strength of the nation
			Cluster Programmes of MEXT / METI	Clusters selected through open competition with focus on IT, life sciences, and nanotechnology to promote partnership among R&D agencies and industry;
			Technopolis Plan of MITI	Agglomeration with involvement of local / prefectural govts to support S&T in regional economic development policies
		UK	Cluster Programmes	Innovation through cluster development in the regions to provide successful and innovative products and services.
		Korea	Innovation Clusters, 1990	Regional research network to promote vertical and horizontal integration of industry from R&D to production
	Rural Programme	China	Spark Prog., 1985	Enhance S&T development and propagate R&D discoveries to rural areas.
Mechanisms for promotion of transfer of technologies	Technology Transfer Agencies at national and agency levels	USA	TLO’s in universities, 80’s	Universities established TLO’s after getting the ownership and the right to patent and commercialise the research output under federally funded research for liasing with industry
		Germany	Steinbeis Foundation, 1971	Provides interface between academic researchers and industry by bridging between academia, research bodies, politics and industry.
		Germany	Universities Independent legal external entity for TT	Established to gain administrative flexibility, as the public law imposes some restrictions on technology transfer from universities
		Japan	IPHQ and TLO	Licensing of technology developed in universities
		UK	TLO’s in universities, 80’s	Universities established TLO’s as interface between academic researchers and industry for commercialising the res. output
		India	NRDC (National Res. Dev. Corpn), 1953	Exploit indigenous know-how; Act as a link between national research agencies and entrepreneurs for technology transfer; Financial for putting up pilot plant, prototype development and establishment of demonstration units
		India	Tech. Transfer and Industry Liaison Gps. of DOS, CSIR insts and some acad. insts like IITs, IISC	Liasing between organisation and industry; Facilitating technology transfer activities and encourage spirit of entrepreneurship of the faculty and graduating students; Negotiating and assisting in transfer agreements; Technical consultancy backup to licensee after know-how transfer, etc.;
	Human Resource Development for effective TT	India	SEETOT (Scheme to Enhance the Efficacy of TT) of DSIR	Supports training programmes involving technology developer, facilitator, users and others, aimed at developing human resource for an effective technology transfer process.
Major National Policy Initiatives bringing all stakeholders together	Discussion Forum	USA	Govt. – Univ.-Industry Res. Roundtable,1984	Incubate activities of on-going value to the universities, research institutes and industry
		Germany	FUTUR and German Res. Dialogue, 2001	Identifying future-related topics of societal relevance needing solution through research; Developing lead visions for research policy
		UK	Foresight Programme of OST, 1993	Build bridges between business, science and government; Bring together knowledge and expertise of people across all areas and activities to increase national wealth and life quality.
Promotion of entrepreneur-ship among scientists in research agencies		Germany	EXIST Campaign of BMBF, 1998	Support university-based researchers willing to start their own spin-off companies through training and advice
		India	EDP (Entrepreneurship Development Programme) of NSTEDB	Establishing Entrepreneurship Development Cells as an institutional mechanism to provide various services to budding S&T entrepreneurs; foster linkages between parent institution, industries and R&D agencies; promote development of S&T based enterprises and employment opportunities
Promotion of industry, including SMEs for technology development and transfer	Financial Incentives for partnership with R&D agencies	USA	STTR (Small Business TT Programme), 1982	Provides JV opportunities for SMEs and premier research institutions; Fosters innovation to meet the S&T challenges in the 21^st century. Specific percentage of federal R&D funding is reserved for award to SMEs and research institution partners.
	Financial Incentives for partnership with R&D agencies	Germany	PRO INNO (Programme Innovation Competence for SMEs), 1999	Supporting R&D activities of SMEs by promoting national and international research partnerships between SMEs and other SMEs / research institutions
	Encourage-ment though funding support	USA	SBIR (Small Business Innovation Res. Programme)	Encourages SMEs to explore their technological potential and commercialising it by providing funding support.
		Germany	High-Tech Master Plan for SMEs	Establishing new joint VC fund to invest for early-stage and growth companies together with private investors; Tax Incentive; Direct public funding of business R&D
		China	National S&T Achievement Dissemination Prog., 1990	Achieve higher economic returns with less investment, short investment cycle and spin-off effect. Government provides start-up money; enterprises and the public raise loans, investments and funds. Projects entitled to preferential treatment during implementation.
		Brazil	FNDCT (National S&T Dev. Fund) of FINEP, 1969	Creating new ways to support Brazilian industries
		India	In-house R&D Ctrs Recog. Scheme of DSIR, 1973	Recognition to in-house R&D units in industry which makes them avail tax incentives and other benefits
Significant legal measures for promoting Partnerships	Laws and Acts	USA	Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act (Public Law 96-480), 1980	Established the foundation for technology transfer within the Federal government for enhanced information dissemination from the Federal government to private industry. It made easier for labs to transfer their technologies and provided means for others to access lab developments.
			Bayh-Dole Act (Public Law 96-517), 1980	Enabled researchers to retain patent for federally funded research and facilitate technology transfer resulting in increased commercialisation
			Federal Technology Transfer Act (Public Law 99-502), 1986	Amendment of Stevenson-Wydler Act with changes having impact on TT process such as an inventor from government owned and operated labs receives minimum 15% share of royalties generated through patenting or licensing. The Act established Federal Laboratory Consortium for TT.
			Executive Order 12591 facilitating access to S&T, 1987	Assuring the government owned government operated labs to enter into cooperative R&D agreements with other Federal Labs, state and local governments, universities and private sector with Federal labs having to apprise these parties about their TT opportunities.
		Germany	Employee Inventions Act amended in 2002.	Ensures rapid translation of ideas from higher educational institutes into new products giving right to these institutions to claim the inventions of all their employees and get them patented and commercialized through their patent and commercialization agencies.
		Japan	Law for the Orientation of S&T, 1996	Making 5 year Basic Plans for S&T to achieve higher standard of S&T by bringing flexibility and competitiveness in the R&D system
			Law of Tech. Licensing / Management Office, 1998	Promote transfer of technologies from university to industry by masterminding joint research projects, monitoring IPR and incubating start-ups.
			Japanese “Bayh Dole”, 1999	Authorise government agencies to let R&D contractors patent government-funded inventions.
			Basic Law on Intellectual Property, 2003	Launched programme for creating, protecting and utilising IP in S&T with areas such as regenerative medicine, new plant varieties, computer software, design models and brand names.
			Amended Japanese “Bayh Dole”, 2004	Grant control to national universities over IP resulting from the work of faculty and students. Licensees are obligated to manufacture in Japan.
		Korea	Machinery Industry Law, 1956	Promote experimental research, initial production and industrial rationalisation of machine tools
			Electronics Industry Law, 1957	Promote experimental research, initial production and industrial rationalisation of electronic technologies
			Industrial Tech. Development Law, 1967	Encourage SMEs to set up in house R&D units through tax privileges and financial supports
			S&T Framework Law, 2001	Provide institutional framework to govern all rules and regulations on S, T and innovation
		Brazil	Macro-Economic Stabilisation Policy, end ‘93	Increased pressure on industries to become more competitive; extinguished possibility of idiosyncratic technological behaviour, and created conditions for industries to adopt a longer-term view on corporate strategy.
		Brazil	Policy for Industry, Tech. and Foreign Trade, 2004	Defined health inputs (specifically medicines) as priority for both industrial development and spawning innovations through partnerships between research institutions and industries
	Patent facilitating body	India	PFC (Patent Facilitating Centre) of DST, 1995	Single window facility providing patent facilities to scientists and technologists for Indian and foreign patents on sustained basis

Cases of Technology Transfer

Various concepts employed in implementation of partnership programmes refer to: a) lap race concept wherein equipment or technology (low end) development and transfer involves R&D agency, industry and intermediary/promotional agency; b) mother licensee concept wherein the promoter setting up the first project based on the invention becomes the mother licensee; c) high technology, multi-ownership concept; d) concept based on societal needs; e) concept driven through Government legislation; f) disruptive technology concept – which has very long gestation period, requires larger funds through VC and a very large number of partnerships. The partnerships may be formalised through formal or informal arrangements such as collaborative projects, contracting or sponsoring research, consultancy, turn-key projects, or exchange of information / personnel or sharing of facilities.

In order to appreciate these modalities the summaries of fifteen cases of Technology transfer are discussed below. Twelve partnership projects were selected from CSIR institutions: Nine of these projects were implemented by one industry and one CSIR lab; one project involved partnership with a German R&D institute and industry besides partnering with Indian industry; one involved partners from more than one CSIR lab, universities and industry; and one involved participation from institutions other than CSIR. Three projects of non-CSIR institutions viz, ISRO, IPRI, CTCRI, CPRI were selected. Out of the fifteen selected projects seven projects involved participation of intermediary agencies such as NRDC and TIFAC. The projects were so selected that they a) represented different S&T disciplines, b) involved the interface agencies to know the view of the partners on their schemes, c) involved a number of partners to understand various nuances of partnership implementation and d) had influence of the government policies. Salient features of the case studies are described in Table 5.

Table 5: Summaries of Case Studies

Case Study	Technology Developed	Main R&D Agency	Industry	Inter-mediary	Other Partners	Financing	Status of Commercialisation
	Palm Oil Technology	RRL – T, CMRI (CSIR) MERDO, CPCRI (ICAR)	AP Oil Federation	NRDC	DBT, Karnataka, AP & Maharashtra States	1.26 Cr by TDB, NCDC, Oil Mission	Commercialised
	Zeolite ‘A’ Intermediate for Detergent	CSMCRI (CSIR)	NALCO	NRDC	EIL	Equal share of Rs.30-40 Lakhs	Commercialised in India and abroad
	Rice Husk Particle Board	IPRI	PPBL	NRDC	-	50% NRDC Equity + 40 Lakh VCF-IDBI loan	Commercialised By MHEL Malaysia + Indonesian company
	Clot Busters TPA, UK, SK	IMT (CSIR)	Godrej	-	Cadila	-	Commercialised
	Specialty Monomers	NCL (CSIR)	Vinati Organics	-	-	Vinati Rs. 40 Lakh + TDB 40 Cr.	Commercialised
	Drug (Amlodipine) Molecule	NCL (CSIR)	Emcur Pimpri	-	-	Emcur Rs. 5 lakhs	Commercialised
	Leaf Cup Making Machine	CFTRI (CSIR)	10 Machine Fabricators	NRDC	SISI, NGO etc.	By R&D agency	Commercialised
	Biodegradable Plastics	CTCRI CPRI	Hindustan Lever	NRDC	SIRI	50% from HGT (DST)	Licensed and being considered for commercialisation
	Catalytic Process for Butadiene Conversion	NCL (CSIR)	Gharada Chemical			Gharada Rs. 20 lakhs	Licensed to industry, but could not get commercialised
	Sol-Gel Abrasives	RRL –T (CSIR)	Company ‘X’	-	-	Rs. 35 lakhs from ‘X’	Licensed, but could not get commercialised
	Flux Bonded Fly Ash Components	RRL –T (CSIR)	Company ‘Y’	TIFAC	-	‘Y’ + Fly Ash Mission	Technology transfer in progress
	Cokeless Cupola for Foundries	NML (CSIR)	TKES	TIFAC	AIFA	Rs. 45 lakhs (TIFAC) + Rs. 20 lakhs (CSIR)	Technology transfer in progress, but not smooth
	Bioactive Molecules fm Plant Extracts	CSIR Labs	Arya Vaidya Sala	Dr. Valiathan	TSM Partners	Share as per Agreement	Technology development in progress
	FEM of Structures and Components	SERC (CSIR) ISR	-	-	NIIT INTES	‘2+2’ bilateral Project	Knowledge Generation
	Satellite Imagery Digitisation	ISRO	-	-	MPD, SOI (DST), IGNOU	-	Often free for societal needs

References:

BANSAL, Rama Swami (2005). R&D Agency – Industry Partnership for Technology Development and Transfer in Indian Context. PhD Thesis, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Rajasthan
Websites of respective organizations implementing the programmes.

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