PREFACE
The
National Innovation Foundation has taken several new
initiatives in providing incubation support to selected technologies
during the year. Linkages with technological institutes, business
schools, entrepreneurs and other players in the market have been
strengthened. Till date, over 40,000 innovations and traditional
knowledge practices have been scouted by NIF. I am very happy to
note that the ties between NIF and the local communities and
knowledge holders have been further strengthened. There is no
doubt that NIF has to eventually become a pivot for articulating the
diverse societal aspirations for building a viable value chain from
knowledge to product, enterprise development and improved livelihoods.
The National Innovation Foundation has continued to emphasize on the development of a
proper framework for protecting the IPRs of the knowledge holders. In the meanwhile, we have
used the existing IPR system to protect the interests of those innovators whose rights can be
protected. NIF has facilitated filing of more than two dozen patents in India and filing of one
international patent with USPTO.
This is the first time perhaps when an Indian farmer cum artisan has been able to demonstrate the
potential of his intellectual property at the international level. This is an area where considerable
improvement is called for. I am happy that NIF has started creating new benchmarks in this area of
its activity also.
Stemming the erosion of traditional knowledge is an important concern of the Foundation. We
believe that development and provision of materialistic and non-materialistic incentives to
individuals and communities may in due course help in not only conserving the knowledge and
resource base. But also, these incentives may enhance it. It is thus quite a timely initiative of NIF to
link the People’s Biodiversity Register developed at the community level with the National Register
of Grassroots Innovations and Traditional Knowledge maintained by NIF.
I have no doubt that the NIF team will continue to strive to excel in serving the creative people of
the unorganized sector of this country. I wish them all the sucess in fulfilling the mandate of NIF. I
also appeal to volunteers from various sectors of Indian society to come forward in joining our
hands in making India innovative for a sustainable development.
(R. A. Mashelkar)
FOREWORD
The tradition of scientific exploration in India is very old. However, many
people did not document their experiments or results thereof in a manner
that easy replication or verification could be achieved. At the same time, in
large number of areas of everyday survival, common people did develop solutions
to everyday problems which could be replicated and verified independently. If that
was not the case, how would so many people survive against so many
odds? In the process of survival, many technological innovations were
developed. NIF has been entrusted with the mandate of documenting not only
the traditional knowledge base of creative individuals as well as communities, but
also the unaided grassroots and technological innovations.
I am very happy that NIF has continued to reach out to far nook and corners of India to discover
innovations at grassroots level which had remained under cover for so long. It is possible that several
people around the country sometimes develop similar innovations independently. We at DST receive
representations from some of these more articulate innovators alleging that their creativity may
have been copied by others. We try with the help of NIF to ensure that all such cases are investigated
thoroughly and no room for misunderstanding or miscarriage of justice remains.
Similarly, many people submit ideas as distinct from innovations and traditional knowledge base. NIF
tries to prioritize all such entries with the help of Research Advisory Committee comprising senior
scientists from the ablest science and technology institutes and management schools of the country.
Still, scope remains that some knowledge-holders genuinely feel that their ideas have not been
prioritized appropriately. I can only request such creative innovators to keep patience with the
emerging processes for screening at NIF so that innovations are given priority over just the ideas and
within ideas, the ones which may impact the lives of common people are preferred over the others.
I am sure once the human resource base at NIF is further strengthened, we should be able to help
many more innovators and traditional knowledge holders. I wish NIF team all the success in this
endeavor. DST will spare no efforts to strengthen the capabilities of NIF which has conducted itself very
devotedly and also frugally to the cause of augmenting innovations at grassroots.
(V.S. Ramamurthy)
INTRODUCTION
Creating new benchmarks in uncovering the creative potential at
grassroots seems to be becoming a compulsion at NIF. With more
than 40,000 additional traditional knowledge and grassroots
innovations scouted during the year, the responsibility of the Foundation
has increased manifold. Some of the challenges head are: obtaining the
Prior Informed Consent (PIC) of thousands of knowledge holders;
screening these contributions to identify the most novel or socially
relevant technologies for awards, value addition, business development
and diffusion through commercial or non commercial channels. This
requires support from a large number of experts in formal and informal sector, and volunteers who
will help in detailed documentation and benchmarking of these technologies.
Several new initiatives were taken during the year to meet these challenges. Scouting and
documentation section of NIF tried to bring in new collaborators for scouting the innovations and
traditional knowledge holders. The third campaign was popularized in hundreds of districts, and
many more NGOs were sought to be involved. The awardees of first and second campaigns also
contributed in spreading the word about the third campaign. The efforts by Honey Bee network
volunteers followed by media coverage continued to be important means of creating
awareness apart from the regular, twice a year, shodh yatras (walk through the villages to explore
creativity and at grassroots), biodiversity competition and recipe competitions among women etc.
SCAIs (Students Club for Augmenting Innovations) were initiated in several business schools and
technical institutions to draw upon the energy and enthusiasm of young, budding managers and
technocrats to explore business opportunities for grassroots innovators. Students of Indian Institute
of Management, Ahmedabad organized a business plan competition DISHA among the business
schools. Another group of students invited young entrepreneurs under the SAKAAR window to
attempt matchmaking among innovators and entrepreneurs. Likewise, several other initiatives were
taken to broadbase the support for value addition and business development processes. It is
proposed that in the coming years, rural development and social work students shall be involved
to develop strategies for social diffusion of innovations, which is a core mandate of the
Foundation.
The idea of a full fledged risk capital fund for helping small innovators and traditional knowledge
holders remained unfulfilled till March 1999 when the then Finance Minister announced the need to
set up a Micro Venture Innovation Fund. It was a noteworthy fact that the idea to mobilize a micro
venture fund was evolved by Honey Bee Network way back in 1997 to address the requirements of
venture capital for product development in a small way. There remained a need for a separate fund
for enabling product development on a large scale. The first ever such dedicated fund with a
corpus of Rs. 5 crore was set up in October 2003 at NIF with the help of SIDBI.
Unless we help in converting, say, five thousand innovations and traditional knowledge practices into
products, we may not be able to take more than fifty to market; and then with adequate design and
other support, maybe just ten will succeed at a large scale. The incubation of technologies at that
scale is still a far dream.
We helped establish GIAN North and an outreach centre of NIF in the form of GIAN group in
North East at IIT Guwahati to make some progress in developing regional nodes for
incubation. There is a need for many more GIANs to provide handholding support to
innovators and traditional knowledge holders dispersed all over the country in hundreds of
districts.
NIF governing council recognized the need for valorizing herbal technologies, which constitute the
largest number of entries in the NIF’s data base. These technologies cannot be valorized unless the
large number of research institutions in public and private sector join hands for the purpose. Two
consultations were organized among the different stakeholders at state and national level. It is
hoped that the process of valorization will gain momentum gradually. Otherwise, we will not be
able to do justice to tens of thousand of traditional knowledge holders who have disclosed their
knowledge in good faith to us without any reciprocal recognition by us for want of validation of
their claims.
Visit of grassroots innovators to South Africa through Commonwealth Science Council was an
important step in building up south – south linkages for learning at people level. With the visit of
professionals and science leaders from that country, slowly the institutional linkages are also being
developed.
The support from the Governing Council continued to be as enthusiastic as one could expect.
The inspirational support from Dr. Mashelkar, Chairperson, NIF and Secretary, Department of
Scientific and Industrial Research;
Prof. V S Ramamurthy, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology and other GC members has
continued to be a major source of strength for NIF. Frugality and transparency continue to be
watchwords in our working at NIF.
The year, thus, was full of challenges in documentation, validation, value addition and
business development. The NIF team started diversifying into various functions to strengthen
internal processes through better coordination and accountability. We are aware of the
tremendous tasks that still remain to be done. Small team and large expectations characterize our
dilemma.
Obviously, most colleagues have had to stretch themselves a great deal and I must acknowledge
the pressure borne by the Scouting and Documentation team the most. The responsibility of NC
(S&D) Ms. Riya Sinha was compounded when she had to also shoulder the responsibility of Chief
Innovation Officer (CIO) with additional officiating charge. I compliment her contribution along with
that of her entire team in NIF which has helped in dealing with a very large and complex task
smoothly. Filing of patent applications was another area in which considerable headway was
made and NC (Intellectual Property Rights) deserves appreciation. Likewise, the Business
Development (BD) section initiated and strengthened the BD function along with the other team
members with creditable results. The Information Technology Function also started receiving
much more attention than before and dissemination activities got considerable headstart. I
wish to put on record my appreciation for Mr. Ram Prakash Yadav (IPR), Mr Manish Saxena
(BD) and Mr Sandeep Sharma (IT) for their very valuable contributions along with their teams.
I hope NIF will continue to receive valuable feedback from persons from different walks of life. We
need support from everyone who shares our vision of making India innovative and a global leader
in sustainable technologies.
(Anil K Gupta)
GOVERNING COUNCIL FOR THE YEAR 2003- 2004
1
Dr. R.A. Mashelkar
Secretary, DSIR & DG,CSIR, New Delhi
Chairperson, NIF
2
Prof. Anil K. Gupta
Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
Executive Vice-Chairperson, NIF
3
Ms. Elaben R. Bhatt
Founder, Self Employed Women’s Association, Ahmedabad
4
Ms. Lalita D. Gupte
Joint Managing Director, ICICI Limited, Mumbai
5
Dr. Vijay L Kelkar
Advisor to Minister of Finance and Company Affairs, Government of India, New
Delhi
6
Prof. Inderjit Khanna
State Election Commissioner, Rajasthan
7
Shri. Anand G. Mahindra
Managing Director, Mahindra & Mahindra Limited, Mumbai
8
Prof. Kuldeep Mathur
Center for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, JNU
9
Prof. V.S. Ramamurthy
Secretary, Dept. of Science & Technology, Government of India, New Delhi
10
Shri. P. K. Laheri
Chief Secretary, Government of Gujarat
11
Prof. Bakul Dholakia
Director, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
12
Dr. E.A.S. Sarma
Principal, ASCI, Hyderabad
13
Dr. Mangala Rai
Director General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi
14
Shri. T.P. Vartak
President, Four Eyes Foundation, Pune
15
Financial Advisor
Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, New Delhi
16
Finance Secretary
Ministry of Finance, Government of India, New Delhi
17
Chief Innovation Officer
National Innovation Foundation, Ahmedabad
CONTEXT
Every time new innovations are scouted, a few newer ways of solving problems also come to the
fore. In that sense, the innovation movement is also helping in transforming the ways in which
creativity at grassroots gets articulated. For instance, if an innovator develops innovations to solve
more than one problem, say pump underground water and also use compressed air to cook food,
then the innovator surely exhibits his skills in developing novel and multifunctional applications.
Likewise, if some one develops a new variety of a crop and does not get recognition for that
despite being very efficient in developing that variety, he teaches us lessons about institutional
inertia and indifference. In fact, we also came across cases in which research universities
claimed whole credit merely for having purified the seeds of the variety bred by farmers.
Obviously, we are far away from the stage when it will become almost impossible for anyone to
deny the due credit to knowledge holders. NIF has been trying to be at the forefront of serving
grassroots innovators and traditional knowledge holders at their doorstep.
The lessons about creative ways of solving problems remain to be learned systematically. NIF
seeks partnership with academic institutions and others who are interested in enriching the
repertoire of creative heuristics for solving technological problems. Our database provides a rich
knowledge base and wide range of approaches to solve problems. Blending these heuristics with
the one used by institutional scientists might enrich both. In this regard, the discussions about an
MoU between CSIR and NIF are on and we hope, in due course, such an understanding will pave
way for healthy and synergistic blend between informal and formal science and technology
systems.
The traditional knowledge systems of India signify the constant effort on the part of common people
at individual or community level to use essentially local resources and at times external resources
to manage livelihoods and health of human, animal and plant eco-systems. Within traditional
knowledge systems also, there are variations. Though most of the people in the community know
about a traditional knowledge practice, only very few know how to practice it and link the solution
with the problem. Should incentives to those who merely know be at par with those who not only
know but also possess the skill to practice it? That is an issue that remains to be resolved. The
notion that traditional knowledge systems are frozen in time and carried from one generation to
another without much change is not what we subscribe to at NIF. We believe that every generation
adds its own perspective to many traditional knowledge practices. Innovations in traditional
knowledge systems, thus, are of no less consequence. NIF is trying to analyze the trends in
traditional knowledge systems and will share the findings with the public in due course. We did try
to explore how many plants were used for curing the same disease and how many diseases could
be treated successfully with the same plant.
It became necessary to screen large number of innovations and traditional knowledge practices not
only on technical ground but also in market place. In this task, involvement of students was
attempted systematically during the year. Similarly, just documenting would not be of use unless
markets are created for products and technologies based on traditional knowledge. At NIF linkages
were established with institutional science and technology systems to enable screening of a vast
knowledge database based on herbal traditional knowledge available. A micro venture innovation
fund was established to provide risk capital for incubating grassroots technologies.
ANNUAL UPDATE
SATVIK 2004: Celebrating Creativity, Diversity and Conservation
The Honey Bee Network (NIF, SRISTI and GIAN) organized the first Traditional Food Festival at
IIM-A campus on February 28 and 29, 2004. The timing was not accidental; February 28 happens
to be the Foundation Day of NIF and thus the festival was also a way of celebrating NIF’s
commitment to diversity, local knowledge and innovations based on agro-biodiversity.
The objectives of the festival were to stimulate
demand for local crops and their varieties from dry
regions as well as hill areas and other rain-fed
regions to generate incentives for their
conservation, increase awareness about organic
farming among urban consumers and organize a
competition to involve women to identify interesting
recipes based on less common plant varieties and
to stimulate demand for such traditional knowledge
based women’s technologies.
Prof. Bakul Dholakia, Director, IIM-A at Satvik-2004
About 14,000 people visited the festival during the
two days and enjoyed various food items and also
bought fabrics dyed with vegetable colors and
treated with herbal extracts. The Traditional Food
Festival became an occasion to celebrate diversity
of culture, creativity in cuisine and conservation ethic. A book on traditional food recipes in Gujarati
published by SRISTI was also released on the occasion. The festival brought together the various
stakeholders in organic farming on a common platform. A poster exhibition of grassroots
technologies and traditional knowledge recognized by NIF was also organized on the occasion.
Some of the technologies incubated by GIAN West were also showcased and many inquiries were
received.
The recipe competition organized on the occasion was judged by the executive chef of Hotel Taj
Umed, faculty from Institute of Hotel Management and other local food experts. There was also
considerable interest among the representatives of major hotels who had visited the food festival to
present to their clients with special health based food menu cards.
If this initiative sets a trend, it could herald a major breakthrough in the areas of agro
biodiversity and associated knowledge systems. Demand for minor millets and other crops from
the hotel industry could provide incentives for conservation and production of these health crops.
Further research is required in the area of nutritional measures and validated benefits of
organic produce. It was not just bon appetite but bon voyage down the less traversed roads of agro
biodiversity!
THE MOVEMENT SPREADS
Winds of Change in the Heartland of Green Revolution
Honey Bee Network
organised the eleventh Shodh Yatra in Udham Singh Nagar district of
Uttaranchal and Pilibheet district of Uttar Pradesh in collaboration with SRISTI and Sristi Gyan
Kendra in May 2003. Walking for about 220 kilometres in the Terai region of Uttaranchal provided
about 200 ShodhYatris (fellow walkers) an understanding of a much diversified ecological and
socio-cultural diversity.
Though the majority of the population in this district is Sikh, there are also families from Bengal,
Nepal, Haryana and Orissa settled here for many
generations. This region gets its name after the
freedom fighter Udham Singh who had killed the
ex-governor of Punjab Sir Michael O’Dwyer in
1940. Apart from the big agricultural farms, it has a
lot of sugar factories, flour and rice mills. The
farmers mainly grow rice, wheat and sugarcane.
The famous G B Pant Agricultural University is
situated in this district.
Terai Organic Farmers’ Association (TOFA)
helped the Honey Bee Network in successfully
spreading the message of eco-friendly and
sustainable farming through the shodh yatra.
Saving the age-old varieties for posterity was not
the only concern of the network.
It also
recognized the innovative farmers who had developed new varieties through trial and error. The
shodh yatris met Indrasan Singh, who had developed a new variety of rice in 1971. The variety
became so famous over the years that it came to be called Indrasan variety. Then there was Beni
Singh, whose claim to fame is that he has developed a variety of sugarcane that grows up to 21
feet. We also learned from women centenarians and other knowledge-rich tharu tribal women. At
many villages, women came forward to participate in recipe contests.
It is not that the traditional knowledge of women is restricted only to preparing nutritious dishes.
Some of them have innovated remedies for their common problems. One of the finest examples in
this category comes from women working in paddy fields. They usually develop fungal infection
working in the watery fields. Some women of Bidori village have found their own remedy to cure it,
because either they did not find a ready cure in the market or did not find the available cures very
effective. Similarly, the yatris met a woman in Thiliya Pur village who had learnt from her mother
the art of treating all kinds of burns with locally available plants. Ashok Kumar Singh of Khateema
has developed a motor to lift water in hilly areas by using compressed air. The yatris also
witnessed a very simple innovation, which was evolved out of sheer necessity to address the basic
requirement of shelter. Sukhranjan Mistry of Devpura village wanted to make a roof for his house
and when he realized that the tiles available in the market were beyond his economical reach, he
attached a rectangular plank to the rear wheel of a bicycle on which he put the raw material for
tiles. When he rotates the wheel, the sand and clay mixture takes the shape of a tile due to the
vibrations created.
At the Ghats of Innovation
Farmers, innovators and SRISTI and Honey Bee
network members from Gujarat joined the twelfth
Shodhyatra (25th Dec to 31st Dec, 2003) in the
Malnad region of Karnataka, in addition to about 60
others from Karnataka, Orissa, Tamil Nadu,
Maharashtra etc. It had been felt that language could
pose a problem in this region but the hospitality and
warmth of the local people helped in
overcoming
most of the barriers in communication. There
was
tremendous
enthusiasm
among
local
communities. This was reflected in the way the yatris
were welcomed in each village. In most places, the
yatris stayed with local families or in temples.
It was a unique experience for the Yatris as they met
the odd balls in the villages that manifested their
resilience to do things differently. For instance, the woman contractor in Gudde Khota village who
operates in a male-dominated field with a group of women she has employed. Other notable
innovations were Bhandari’s areca de-husking machine, Ratnakar’s hydro turbo- propelled
turbine that was awarded by NIF in the previous year and Hurulihakkalu Vasudeva Rao’s unique
way to hydrate the local vanilla crop. Another unique phenomenon that we came across was
the Transport Cooperative Society, Koppa. When a private transport company was being wound up
because of low income and heavy debts, Chikke Gowda, its current head, and his seniors decided
to take over the debts and the fleet of five buses to preserve their jobs and also to become a
worker-managed enterprise. Today, they have 75 buses, four of which were inaugurated by the
Yatris.
It was a rich socio-cultural experience and the Yatris got a glimpse into the rich vein of local culture.
The visit to the Shringeri Mutt established by the Shankaracharya and participating in the AntekePinteke, a tribal folk song, gave an insight into the spiritual heritage of the region.
MVIF: Risk Capital for Grassroots Innovations
For implementing a new concept, one may need new
institutional arrangements. The brainstorming session
“Key Challenges in Building Value Chain around
Grassroots Innovations and Outstanding Traditional
Knowledge” on July 19, 2003 was attended by IIM-A
faculty and other academicians, representatives of
GIANs,
NIF
staff
members,
innovators
and
entrepreneurs. It was important to get the goals of NIF
and the strategies being used to achieve these goals
critically evaluated by peers. The purpose was to not
only achieve sharpness in its focus but also to widen the
network of stakeholders. It was also realized that several
issues being faced by NIF or GIAN require further research since the available knowledge
base may not be sufficient for the purpose.
Dr R A Mashelkar, Secretary, DSIR; DG, CSIR and Chairperson, NIF stressed the need for
modern science and traditional knowledge to merge and form a sangam (confluence) of the two
great rivers. He emphasized the importance of building networks between the private and
public sectors, establishing the context of technology appreciation and augmentation of
grassroots innovations.
Mahesh Patel (GIAN West) described the entire value chain process - from incubation, to product
development and dissemination through a presentation on two innovations - Auto Air Kick Pump
and Cotton Stripping Machine.
The importance of a network between the innovators
and entrepreneurs was highlighted. Prof. Pankaj
Chandra of IIM-A mentioned that voluntarism does
not work all the time and there have to be incentives
for different stakeholders in the value chain.
Therefore, the question in point would be, “How
will different intermediaries in the chain come
together and benefit?” In his opinion, both Business
Value Chain and the Technology Supply Chain have
to be strengthened. Linkages with big exporters/
producers can be a useful tool to promote products.
Prof. Piyush Sinha of IIM-A added that NIF has to
find out the drivers that need to be focused on. The
product portfolio can be divided into various groups of technologies and the most value adding
activity for that particular group in the incubation process can be found out.
Mr.
Sanghv
i,
an
entrepr
eneur
who
has bought the rights of marketing the auto air kick pump asked, “What is the purpose of protecting
IPR and how does it prevent others from copying? Does the innovator get any benefit from this
elaborate process of IPR protection? How can NIF protect the innovations during the patent
process?” The issue was deliberated upon and Prof. Abhinandan Jain of IIM-A was of the opinion
that copying would happen one way or the other and the innovator should have a detached
attachment to his innovation and stress on the value and price of the item.
Prof Sriram of IIM-A suggested that NIF should not limit the scope of the Micro Venture Innovation
Fund (MVIF) to only a small fund. If it is micro-venture, individual projects will not be able to bear
the various risks associated with the projects. Instead it should visualize a large fund for satisfying
the aspirations of a very large number of innovators. Prof. Koshy suggested that NIF should
develop different strategies for different products and he went on to categorize innovations in the
following groups: Paradigm Shifters or Disruptive Innovations, Category Creators, Market
Accelerators and Market Shifters. Elaborate discussions were held on the implications of the
attributes that these categories stood for.
Prof Mukund Dixit of IIM-A gave a presentation on the topic Policy Challenges in Harnessing
Grassroots Innovations. He covered various aspects of grassroots innovations, the need for
harnessing such innovations and the role of policy challenges and also highlighted some
aspects about decentralization and networking, innovation bank and an alternative IPR regime.
Discussions around policy challenges funneled into the
aspects
of
empowerment
and
enterprise, quick ramp up from informal to formal, decentralization and networking,
international linkage and bridge-building, rethinking the paradigm of protection of knowledge,
alternative IPR regime - higher speed, greater bandwidth, Innovation Bank - mobilization and
ownership and synergizing around what is already happening in other sectors.
With regard to the role of NIF and its capacity building, Prof. Sriram highlighted the need to identify
the strengths and weaknesses of NIF and wondered whether NIF was trying to bite more than it
could chew. Prof Dileep Mavalankar of IIM-A talked about the concept of service innovations
as distinguished from product innovations. He also added that NIF has to make a choice on what
type of innovations it wanted to promote as this was crucial because of the scarcity of the
resources available at NIF’s disposal. Prof Chandra stressed the need for identifying the strengths
and weaknesses of the value chain and for identifying an ideal road map to commercialize the
innovations. Prof. Koshy said that the priority of NIF should be to translate an innovation into reality
and this would involve identifying issues in the supply chain, addressing problems in marketing and
resolving issues in management, networking and providing sound advisory services.
Several points raised for further reflection centered on: What does NIF do in the context of
multiplicity of expectations? Does it provide only initial tech-support? Does it do technology
brokering? Does it provide media support for innovations? What is the roadmap for future?
DREAM GROWS WINGS
S&D Activities in 2003-04
In the fourth biennial campaign, National Innovation Foundation attempted several methods to
document grassroots innovations and traditional knowledge from different parts of the country.
Like in previous years, the Honey Bee collaborators have proved their worth in identifying
creative solutions developed by people from different states. As the database expands, our
responsibility towards knowledge holders also increases.
Some of the key initiatives during the year were:
Establishing Linkages between Community Biodiversity Registers and National Register of
Grassroots Innovations and Traditional Knowledge.
Prof Madhav Gadgil of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and several other colleagues in the
country have been involved in a pioneering effort to build community biodiversity registers. NIF
representatives participated in several meetings followed by a discussion in the Governing
Council meeting on March 9, 2004 as well as in a brainstorming meeting organized on the
occasion. The idea was that NIF and the local communities get into an MoU wherever the
community concerned wanted to deposit its register with NIF and make it a part of the national
register.
The Governing Council in principle approved the idea of linking Community Biodiversity Registers
(CBRs) or People’s Biodiversity Registers (PBRs) with the national register (NR). It also
recognized that without the help of IISc and other stakeholders, it would not be possible for NIF
with its limited resources to visit each community in the country to sign MoUs. However,
with suitable mediation, NIF would be very happy to facilitate such MoUs so that communities
have faith in the NR developed by NIF. In one such case, NC (S&D) visited local communities in
Karnataka where such registers were first offered for deposition at NIF. The MoU was signed by
NIF and these communities mediated by IISc faculty and staff and local collaborators.
Building Value Chain around Biodiversity based Traditional Knowledge
A case for SAMPADA (Strategic Alliance for Medicinal plant based People’s knowledge for drug
development and other applications) initiative was made at a brainstorming session organized on
March 9, 2004 on building value chain around biodiversity-based traditional knowledge. The
objectives of the meeting were:

To develop a framework for a national strategy for valorizing biodiversity-based folkloric
traditional knowledge and contemporary innovations included in the National Register of
Traditional Knowledge and Unaided Grassroots Innovations.
 To decide on modalities to operationalize a benefit sharing system along with the concept of
Prior Informed Consent (PIC).
 To work towards a national technology mission to screen, characterize, formulate, test
and develop herbal drugs and other products for Indian and global markets based on
people’s knowledge.
 To develop a strategy to pool various plant- based databases in the country so as to
facilitate identification of unique herbal knowledge of people for prioritizing the value chain
development.
 To facilitate development of sui generic intellectual property rights systems for
protection of traditional knowledge and contemporary biodiversity based innovations
developed by communities and individuals included in the National Register.
 To finalize time-bound plan of action with distributed leadership involving the private and
public sector industry as well as the civil society sector organizations
 To help India become a global leader in biodiversity based products and services.
The Department of AYUSH, in a recent policy document, “National Policy on Indian Systems of
Medicine and Homeopathy, 2002” recognized the importance of folkloric knowledge system of
medicine which have sustained the health of millions of people in our country. It also
acknowledged that various research councils have documented about 10,000 such practices,
hopefully with the details about the source of knowledge holders and communities. It accepts the
need for documenting many more practices to acknowledge the contribution of knowledge holders,
extending them financial benefits and protecting their intellectual property rights. Traditional healers
who have met health needs of millions of people where trained doctors have not yet reached, need
opportunities to (i) expand their repertoire through lateral learning as well as interactions with
formally trained experts, and vice versa (that is formal experts need to learn from traditional
knowledge holders), (ii) have access to research resources for valorizing their knowledge,
(iii) protect their intellectual property where applicable in the name of communities or individual
experts as the case may be, (iv) diffuse their expertise and products thereof, through
commercial and non commercial channels (such as community self help medicinal kits being
promoted by many NGOs), (v) improve their livelihood through linkage with markets as well as
national policy for health care and (vi) equip next generation in proven, unique and locationspecific healthcare practices, approaches and philosophies.
In the last three years NIF has already documented about 36,000 innovations and traditional
knowledge which need proper screening, value addition and benefit sharing with knowledge
holders. If this database keeps expanding at this rate, we will have a national crisis of raising
popular aspirations and doing nothing to meet these. NIF can not do justice to this knowledge
base on its own. Thus the need for major countrywide initiative for collaboration among public,
private and civil society sectors. NIF has not been able to even recognize these herbal healers
for want of proper validation1. Unless folkloric systems of knowledge become part of national
health strategies and buoyant herbal product markets in India and outside, there is no chance of
this knowledge tradition surviving.
On the issue of benefit sharing system, it was recognized that PIC and Benefit Sharing system
would require a massive effort at the countrywide level. It was agreed that a milestone-based
benefit sharing system was needed. It requires pooling part of the benefit in a common pool for all
the knowledge providers and only a part should be shared with the community that provided the
specific lead. The benefits could be shared at various stages when access is made, some thing
useful is found, product is developed and finally, when it is commercialized. Very high expectations
may impede cooperation and very low may fail to trigger a dialogue. The challenge is to find
mediating platforms, actors and institutional mechanisms so that benefit sharing takes place at a
widespread level. So far, there has been much discussion on the subject. But there has hardly
been any concrete sharing of benefits, except what has been tried by NIF and Honey Bee
Network or Arya Vaidya Shala and Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute (TBGRI).
There would have been no justification for NIF to document this knowledge base and raise
expectations if we did not have any policy or institutional arrangements for sharing benefits.
It was noted that a database of about 8000 plants reportedly exists with various research councils.
NBRI, CDRI, NISCOM (TKDL), CDRI, NISTADS, CIMAP, FRLHT, SRISTI, IISc, and several other
agencies and initiatives have also contributed in this regard. Yet, there is no central database,
which can be used to find uniqueness of folkloric knowledge.
Discussion on IPR Protection Note in GC Meeting
On the issue of Intellectual property rights protection, a note prepared for GC of NIF was shared.
Some of the relevant issues were: (i) disclosure requirement in patent application: an issue that
has also been raised at the WIPO based Inter Governmental panel on Access to Genetic
Resources and Traditional Knowledge and Folklore, (ii) should traditional knowledge be considered
as prior art and if so, why would anybody feel obliged to share benefits? (iii) Under what
statutes must communities or individual healers be enabled to protect their traditional knowledge
and for what period? (iv) what should be the basis for protecting the information disclosed by
local communities through PBR or directly to NIF? (v) Should priority be given to communities
that first developed a knowledge, practice or innovation or should all communicators or knowledge
holders communicating a particular herbal use are made co-holders of the rights? (vi) should the
provision of collecting societies be made applicable to traditional knowledge protection also,
so that local associations, panchayat samitis or NGOs can file for protection on behalf of the
communities? (vii) Should there be a parallel track system for protection of innovations with lower
inventive threshold? (viii) Should sacred marks protection be accorded to specific cultural symbols
associated with knowledge, innovation or practices? (ix) what kind of clearing houses should be
organized for linking knowledge, innovations and practices with potential investors and
entrepreneurs?
Prior Informed Consent (PIC) is one of the first steps taken in this regard. A suggestion was made
by GC Members that instead of having PIC between two parties that is, knowledge providing
individuals or communities, one could involve legitimate third parties such as NGOs, or
association of healers in the PIC also. This might generate greater confidence in the minds of
knowledge holders. It was also mentioned that NIF was considering a two stage Prior Informed
Consent process so that preliminary consent may deal with each and every entry whereas the
detailed PIC may be sought only in the case of shortlisted and prioritized entries for validation
and IPR protection.
In his concluding remarks, Dr. Mashelkar stressed on the fact that Indian traditional knowledge
system was essentially representing the knowledge base of one-sixth of the humanity. The blend
between individual and community knowledge cannot be achieved without drawing upon the
strength of existing networks. He also drew attention to the cases where CSIR had developed
hugely successful commercial products drawing upon local knowledge. He acknowledged the
merit of several ideas that came up for discussion such as the idea of Food for Knowledge,
up front incentives for knowledge providers, generating awareness through /in the education
system and developing a regulatory framework which guides the relationship between people
and professionals properly. He agreed that screening facilities have to be strengthened and NIF’s
role in this regard would need to be clarified and its capacity strengthened.
Action Points identified at the meeting were:






A framework should be developed as per section 41 of the Indian Biodiversity Act on
people’s biodiversity knowledge. A Task Force can be formed for developing framework
for pooling the traditional knowledge and licensing its use for commercial
purposes. Involvement of different ministries to give their inputs in the institutionalization of
PBR process would be very helpful. Special policy for revitalization of traditional health
practices is also necessary.
Library of Protocols: Develop protocols for different kinds of validation of local practices and
to look at existing Ayurvedic, Unani and Siddha protocols also. CDRI and CIMAP will help in
developing protocols.
Identify colleges and institutions who will join this SAMPADA initiative for validating
practices dealing with different disease groups, develop questionnaires for use by
societies such as Anthropological Society and Anthropological Survey of India and
deliver value added information to knowledge providers in a time bound manner.
Identifying various Indian System of Medicine (ISM) institutions which can take
responsibility in different regions to characterize the knowledge.
Integration of the databases of traditional practices, even if the formats used are not
uniform.
Evolve strategies to ensure access of database to the PBR knowledge holders and
communities. Ensure that the knowledge providers have access to traditional
knowledge and herbal databases in local language as well as multimedia. This could be
one major incentive for the traditional knowledge holders.
Food for Knowledge Program:
The participation of the people in development process need not be restricted to only their menial
contribution. The mental orientation and intellectual contribution should not be given any less
importance. In the drive to make India a knowledge society, Food for Knowledge Program may
symbolize India’s determination to value people’s knowledge properly. Just as PBRs have
evolved to document people’s biodiversity knowledge, PKR may evolve as registers of
peoples’ knowledge.
 Develop and deliver proper incentives linked to the use of the knowledge so pooled,
 Work out time bound targets of validating, value addition and disseminating the traditional
knowledge of people linked to biodiversity use with proper attribution, reciprocity and
respect in close cooperation with NBA and other stakeholders.
a) Characterizing the traditional knowledge database at NIF and annotating the unique
practices:
The traditional knowledge practices contributed to NIF have varying quality of documentation. In
most cases, one has just the name of the plant (often in local language with or without its
botanical name) used for treating a particular disease without description of the symptoms,
dosage, or even the method of making the medicine etc. In such a situation, we face several
challenges: (i) correct identification of the plant by getting plant sample or by consulting experts
familiar with the region from where local plant names had been submitted, (ii) annotating the claim
using databases Indian Systems of Medicine and also allopathic databases, (iii) since NIF does
not have access to TKDL, we will have to generate the annotation afresh, (iv) identification of
unique practices after doing prior art search (PAS) and v) then either validating single claims or
pooling the best practices and then taking up their validation. So far, the voluntary process for
annotation did not work. We may have to hire experts and get the annotation done through
ayurvedic as well as allopathic knowledge systems of medicine.
b) Excluding innovations by professionals from NIF’s purview:
In the earlier rounds, we had recognized some of the innovations from the professionals. That was
because we wanted to focus on both types of innovations, innovations for grassroots as well as
innovations at grassroots. As we gained experience, we decided that NIF’s mandate should be
interpreted to support only unaided grassroots innovators. The guidelines were clarified and the
announcement for third campaign had much clearer guidelines than that for the first and second
campaigns. These guidelines even made a distinction between students of schools and nontechnical education and the ones from professional courses. The professionals were excluded from
the purview of NIF’s competition even when they had developed innovations for grassroots
applications; we only offered to provide appropriate linkages to them. These professionals were
more articulate, had telephone and other means of communications and were generally more
resourceful. They obviously made more demands on our time and resources. If we did not make
this distinction, we felt, we would be deviating from our mission and mandate.
c) Recognition of Non Awarded Innovators:
There has been a constant concern at NIF as to how to recognize those who had contributed
valuable knowledge, innovations and practices at NIF but who had not made it to the list of
awardees. After all, we could honor hardly a hundred of innovators among the tens of thousands
who remained unrecognized. This was neither a fair nor a justified system. It will also cause
cynicisms and frustration in the end and defeat the very purpose, which is to generate hope
amongst knowledge rich and economically poor people. Several non-monetary incentives are
being considered. One of these is to send certificates of acknowledgement to all those whose
entries have been accepted under National register.
d) Building linkages with Open University schools of social work and reaching out:
Linkages have been established with the faculty and staff volunteers at North Maharashtra Open
University so that thousands of their participants in various courses could also become scouts of
local knowledge, innovations and practices. A workshop of MSW faculty from different colleges was
also organized. It is hoped that scouting process in Maharashtra will be strengthened through this
process.
e) Developing a project for S&D and Value Addition through NATP of ICAR:
ICAR recognized NIF as one of the collaborating centres under NATP project and thus provided
support for both scouting and documentation as well as for value addition and validation of
technologies.
f) Organizing a workshop of Women NGOs and workers to fill a long- recognized gap in
our S& D strategies.
We have been receiving far less entries from women innovators and traditional knowledge holders
so far. Two workshops were organized to fill this gap. The first one brought together leaders of
Women Self Help Group (SHG) federations from seven states and second brought similar leaders
and NGOs from different parts of Gujarat. The second meeting was also attended by the then
Chief Secretary, Government of Gujarat and Dr Vijay Kelkar, GC Member of NIF. Many more such
meetings will have to be organized to build capacity of women groups to scout the knowledge
unique to women members of such groups.
VARD Activities in 2003-04
Projects under Direct Support from NIF
In addition to providing support through GIANs and other collaborators, financial support was
provided to innovators for various incubation activities like prototype development, testing the
innovation, design optimization, development of concept proof model, etc. Wherever necessary,
technical support was also provided by the VARD team to the innovators. VARD has also acted as
a facilitator between various research institutes and the innovators for testing purposes.
Student Training
Students from technological institutes were given summer training at VARD. They were allotted
specific projects, as a part of which they had to undertake the technological assessment, market
feasibility and/or benchmarking of the selected innovation.
Workshops and Exhibitions
(i)
Workshop at Sri Siddhartha Institute of Technology (SSIT) and Commencement
of GIAN Cell:
This workshop was organized at Tumkur on September 22, 2003 for technical documentation and
validation of technological innovations from the southern part of India. More than 20 students
participated in the validation process. Dr. G Parameshwara and the Minister delivered the key note
lectures and Prof Anil K Gupta inaugurated the workshop. The NIF Resource Team presented
samples of innovations to elicit support of faculty and students at the campus in building linkages
with the innovators specially invited for this meeting. A local steering group met to develop some
norms about the working of GIAN cell when such a cell was set up at SSIT.
(ii)
Demonstration Workshop at Vairag 2003
The workshop was organized by innovator Bharat Kamble on September 23, 2003 for
testing, demonstration and dissemination of his innovation “Motor Protection Device”. The
prototype of the innovation was successfully demonstrated during the workshop. Scouting and
documentation of other innovations from the area of Solapur was also facilitated as a part of the
workshop. Financial assistance has been provided to Mr. Kamble.
(iii)
MindBend 2004
Mind Bend is a symposium organized every year by SVNIT, Surat, Gujarat. As a part of the
symposium, a student competition “Samaj” is held, where students are invited to propose
solutions to a few selected problems encountered by farmers, artisans. VARD identified
20 problems from its database of technological innovations for the students’ competition at
MindBend on February 21, 2004. Five of the problems were selected for the competition. Fifteen
proposed solutions in form of the competition entries were received. The technical solutions
provided by the students were useful in design optimization.
(iv)
Workshop on Validation and Value Addition to Traditional Herbal Practices of
Medicine
The workshop was organized on March 3, 2004 with the aim of building network of scientist and
researchers from various institutions and laboratories dealing with medicinal plants. Herbal
practices for various categories of disorders were shared with the participants and proposals for
taking up validation and/or value addition of these traditional practices were invited. About 65
researchers from various parts of Gujarat participated in this event. NIF has given support of Rs
34,000/- to L.M. College of Pharmacy, Ahmedabad for taking up a project on “Validation of certain
herbal drugs used in gastrointestinal disorders”.
Projects directly supported under VARD (2003-04)
Sr.No
1
Innovation
Bullet
Jacket
Innovator
Proof Makarand Kale
Brief
description
This is a
special
material for
bullet proof
jacket
Financial
Support by
VARD
Value Addition
Mode
Testing of the
material
properties
such
as
hardness,
compression,
tensile and impact
strengths
was
conducted at LD
College
of
Engineering and
the claims made
by the innovator
were validated.
VARD
has
provided technical
support
in
developing
a
compact
size
flexible prototype.
The product is still
at test stage
2
Intercom
Device
Madan Singh Chavda
This innovation
consists of an
intercom
device which
can be used as
a safe means
of
communication
between
the
riders of two
wheelers.
The innovation
is based on the
principle
of
repulsion
between
like
poles
of
a
magnet, which
is
used
to
create
a
damping effect
3
Magnetic
Shock
Absorber
Kalpita Patil
4
MultiStove
5
Mini Washing Remya Jose
Machine
This is a low
cost
manual,
portable
washing
machine cum
exercising
machine
Rs 5000 has
been given
to her for
design
optimization
6
Coconut
Dehusking
Machine
R Jayaseelan
It is a device to
dehusk
coconut using
a fork- based
motorized
husker
Rs 15,000
to make an
improved
prototype
7
Air engine
Darna Bisoi
This
Utility S J Joe
VARD
has
integrated
her
concept
by
making
another
model for testing
purposes.
Rs 24,000
through
Peermade
Developmen
t
Society
(Honey Bee
Network
collaborator)
to develop
two
prototypes.
is
a Rs 6500 for
Facilitated
performance
testing
of
the
prototype
at
National Institute,
Kozhikode
(erstwhile
REC,
Calicut) at the
Energy
Development
Center under the
supervision of Dr
N M Nagarajan
and Dr. S Jayaraj
Modified design
with
more
comfortable
setting
and
pedling
arrangement and
rust- proof wire
mesh for holding
clothes has been
developed.
Facilitated
the
further design and
development
at
IITBombay
under
the
guidance of Dr B
K Chakravarty of
Industrial Design
Center.
The
modified
prototype is now
available
with
SEVA
Madurai
(regional
Collabrator
of
NIF). This needs
further
improvement
The innovator has
compressed air
driven engine,
still at the idea
stage
8
STCMW
Sudip Ghosh
(Sudip
Tropical
and
Medium Wave)
technical
validation
through
SRISTI,
Orissa
some
concerns
regarding
the
disclosure of the
details
of
his
technology, which
need to be sorted
out before the
actual
demonstration of
the prototype can
be arranged.
This is an idea Rs 1000 for The innovator has
for setting up making
some
concerns
communication prototype
regarding
the
set
up
in
disclosure of the
remote places
details
of
his
technology, which
need to be sorted
out before the
actual
demonstration of
the prototype can
be arranged.
BD Activities in 2003-04
The business development activity hitherto was taken up primarily through GIAN Gujarat (later
converted into GIAN West). The experience of GIAN needed to be refined and built upon while
developing NIF’s strategy. Accordingly, a comprehensive and multi-pronged strategy was
developed and presented to the Governing Council of NIF on July 19, 2003. Its highlight was to
build necessary infrastructure for BD (both hardware and software) for long-term results, as well as
to take up a few technologies for immediate commercialization. Key strategies were:
 Developing institutional infrastructure for BD
activities
like
involving
business
management students in diffusion centric activities, strengthening the role of GIANs by
extending handholding support, building linkages to scout entrepreneurs, etc.
 Extending financial support to innovators, and entrepreneurs for incubation activities.
 Networking with industry associations, clusters and private sector participation in
commercialization initiatives.
 Improving systems and processes for better coordination and effective delivery of BD
function.
Initiatives for Student Involvement: Expanding Capacity and Reach
Involvement of students served the purpose of giving them opportunities to engage with live
projects. For NIF, it bridged the gap between formal and informal context of incubation. In
essence, it could become a win-win situation for students, educational institutions and NIF. The
students were expected to pursue (i) developing of a channel of diffusion for innovations,
(ii) mobilizing inputs for various stages of incubation, (iii) learning from the innovator about the
technology and how innovator saw its market, (iv) pursuing technical as well as market
benchmarking, (v) conducting market research for demand assessment to prepare business
plans, (vi) scouting potential licensees and entrepreneurs and generating interest among them
for taking the innovation forward. An attempt was made to motivate the students to scout
innovations from industrial clusters, local industries, slums, etc. though results in this regard are yet
to materialize.
Students’ Club for Augmenting Innovations (SCAI)
NIF has taken the initiative to set up “Students’ Club for Augmenting Innovations (SCAI) at
Grassroots”, a nationwide student movement comprising students from India’s best
management and technology institutes. The purpose is to provide product development,
mentoring and monitoring support to innovators / traditional knowledge holders at grassroots level
in the country. In the year 2003-04, nine SCAI Chapters were set up at various Business
Schools across India that included Dept of Business Management, College of Engineering,
Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, IIM- Ahmedabad, IIM-Bangalore, IIM-Kozhikode, IIMLucknow, K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research – Mumbai, TISS – Mumbai,
XIM - Bhubaneswar and XLRI - Jamshedpur.
DISHA- National Level Business Plan Competition
Disha is a national level business plan competition organized every year to convert
innovations and traditional knowledge at grassroots into practical business propositions.
Students from management and engineering colleges, agricultural universities, pharmacy
colleges etc., participate to prepare business plans for commercially attractive technologies from
the database of NIF.
The best ones get rewarded suitably. These business
plans would be useful for NIF in approaching the
prospective entrepreneurs and mentors who would
help convert these innovations into products and
enterprises. The first such nation-wide competition
was launched in September 2003. DISHA-2003 was
completed in January 2004.
More than 500
students had registered with NIF to prepare market
feasibility reports
for various technologies. Six
finalist teams were short listed and invited to make a
presentation of their case before a panel of
distinguished judges. The team from XLRI,
Jamshedpur was the winner this year. Students from IIM- Ahmedabad organized and hosted the
competition.
SAAKAR
SAAKAR- was organized to scout entrepreneurs who were expected to make bids for licensing the
grassroots innovations. Students were offered venture capital support to convert their business
plans into enterprises. Agribusiness Club at IIM Ahmedabad was supported to organize SAAKAR
to look for entrepreneurs in Gujarat. SAAKAR may be organized on a national scale in coming
years.
Web Initiative www.indiainnovates.com
This portal was originally developed through an IIM-A student project supported by SRISTI and
later by NIF. It is envisaged as a platform for mobilizing volunteers from various cross- sections of
society. These volunteers may be in-service or retired professionals, housewives, students or any
body who wants to contribute in incubation activities either by providing consultancy or contacts. To
make such partnerships sustainable, incentive options are being worked out so that it is in the best
interests of all the stakeholders.
We received 12 letters of intent (LoI) for various technologies. Necessary follow-up was done. A
separate database is being maintained for the same. The site was launched in the month of
December 2003 and since then 16 parties have registered for mentorship. The portal eventually will
become a one-stop window to approach Indian innovators, be it grassroots individuals or
professionals. The other direct benefit the portal will offer to NIF will be in terms of generating
licensing opportunities. It is also our endeavor to reach out to markets that are often inaccessible to
grassroots innovators through this portal.
At present, 47 technologies have been put on the website and queries are being received in from
USA, Zimbabwe, Mexico, etc. NIF and GIAN are following up the responses.
Operationalization of Micro Venture Innovation Fund (MVIF)
MVIF is a national level incubation fund set up on October 2, 2003 with financial assistance of Rs
40 million from SIDBI. In addition, a sum of Rs 10 million has been provided to meet the transaction
costs of managing the fund. MVIF has been conceptualized to provide much needed fillip to the
process of formation of a large number of micro and small enterprises based on grassroots
innovations. Through the efficient management of this fund, NIF aims to convince the policy
makers about the need for supporting small innovators in a major way.
The goal of MVIF is to identify the market gap and potential for a given innovation, incubate the
technology to meet this gap, and to provide much needed capital support to entrepreneurs /
innovators at early stages of enterprise development.
Objectives of MVIF
a)
To provide a means of finance for innovation and traditional knowledge-based microventures, which are generally not given any support by conventional financial institution.
b)
To support the technology development life cycle that includes Prototype Development,
Technical Validation and Benchmarking, Field Trials, Market Research, Certification by Regulatory
Authorities, Protection of Intellectual Property Rights, Promotion and Dissemination.
c)
To offer innovative and flexible financing options for the seed capital and working capital
requirements. These could be tailor- made to the needs of grassroots’ entrepreneurs and
enable them in minimizing the financial risk associated with their ventures.
Fund Management Committee
The first meeting of the Fund Management Committee, an executive committee of MVIF was
called on October 20, 2003 at NIF to discuss various operational issues pertaining to investment
of the corpus and developing guidelines for investments in projects. The Fund Management
Committee is an executive body, which has representation from SIDBI and NIF. It was decided that
MVIF would operate within the framework to be developed by NIF under the guidance of FMC.
The delivery functions like project appraisal, disbursement, monitoring & mentoring and recovery
shall be taken care by NIF and its regional arms like Grassroots Innovation Augmentation
Network (GIAN), GIAN Cells and other associates who are its collaborators in delivery. (See
flow chart.)
Incubation Advisory Committee
An Incubation Advisory Committee was constituted in January 2004 to oversee the entire process.
Its members represent various fields such as technology incubation, innovation and management
and include Rahul Patwardhan, CEO, India Co., Chair; Prof. Pankaj Chandra, IIM- A; Prof. V R
Gaekwad, Retired Professor, IIM- A; Prof. P K Sinha IIM- A and Prof. Sharad Sarin, XLRI,
Jamshedpur.
Performance of MVIF in 2003-04
In the financial year 2003-04, a total of nine projects were provided MVIF assistance with total
sanctioned amount of Rs. 2,34,273/Out of these nine projects, three projects were initiated by NIF. The assisted projects include six
projects coordinated through GIANs and other collaborators. Rest of the projects were
initiated and executed through incubation network partners. These projects cover different sectors
such as telecom, energy, general machinery, utility, etc.
Three-tiered Operating Structure of MVIF:
Introducing New Systems and Processes
In order to provide clarity about the goals and processes of MVIF and jointly develop various
screening forms and approaches, a workshop was organized with the support of Incubation
Advisory Committee.
A process chart for monitoring the incubation process was developed at the workshop. (See
Flowchart)
Various standard formats evolved in the discussions which included SD1 (Scouting &
Documentation), EV1 (Evaluation document), L1 (Licensing process and check-list)) and E1
(Enterprise Plan). An online Incubation Monitoring System was also developed to facilitate better
monitoring of the incubation process across locations.
The system offered password-based
access to multi-locational coordinating agencies working on a wide spectrum of projects. The
transaction cost and decision-making time would be reduced substantially by using the system.
The online system is currently under beta stage and is to be properly institutionalized in course of
time.
The workshop also delved into the possible models of commercialization and their feasibility in
NIF’s context.
Flowchart of Incubation Process Showing Monitoring Stages and Documents
Commercialization
GIAN West was supported in negotiation and structuring of deal regarding technology transfer of
four sprayers. The deal was closed on August 15, 2003. (See report of GIAN West).
Demonstrations of Technologies Crompton Greaves Ltd (CGL), Mumbai:
Joint presentations were made by NIF and GIAN teams to top-level R&D team at Crompton
Greaves Ltd., Mumbai. Major technologies discussed were: Bamboo Fan, Turbines, Motor
Protection device, Small Diesel Engine and Gear-cutting Device. Out of these, the CGL team
provided critical inputs on technical and market feasibility. Bamboo fan was short-listed for testing
and validation by CGL team. The results of test conducted in October 2003 were satisfactory but
possibility of technology acquisition seemed low due to other market and strategy issues.
Kirloskar Oil Engines Ltd, Pune:
NIF BD and GIAN NE organized test-runs at Kirloskar’s Pune plant for a unique Energysaving Coupling developed by Kanak Das at Guwahati. The results were not favorable. A modified
test was suggested by Kirloskar’s R&D team to be conducted at IIT- Guwahati.
Petroleum Conservation Research Authority (PCRA), New Delhi:
Various energy saving technologies were discussed with PCRA in October, 2003 to mobilize
their support in further development of technologies.
Other Networking and Showcasing Events
An interactive workshop on ‘Grassroots Innovations: Enterprise Opportunities’ was organized by
GIAN N with the support of NIF at the India
International Center (IIC) in New Delhi on
December 22, 2003 in collaboration with Punjab
Haryana Delhi Chamber of Commerce (PHDCCI);
EMPI Business School, New Delhi and India
International Center (IIC), New Delhi. A total of 15
technologies primarily from Northern India and two
from Western India were showcased. More than 50
entrepreneurs from National Capital Region
participated in the program.
IT & Dissemination Activities
The various activities concerning IT and dissemination undertaken at NIF during the year
included:
Entries in Electronic Database:
In the second competition the total no. of entries that were received were 6228, while total no, of
innovations received were 13, 533. 9843 entries were received and 21, 931 innovations were
received for the third competition.
Document Management System:
Scanning of around 1400 entries and of around 7500 entries in the second and third competition
respectively was facilitated to reduce the need for accessing physical files and keeping electronic
backup for the same.
New Website and Maintenance/ Updation of Other Sites:
A new website scai.org.in was launched for Students’ Club for Augmenting Innovations at
Grassroots, which is envisaged to be a voluntary network of students cutting across all disciplines
to actively take part in the missions of NIF. Another site indiainnovates.com designed by
SRISTI was revamped with new design, look and content. Constant updating and maintenance is
being done at regular intervals for various sites of NIF and Honey Bee network.
Website Hosting:
The sites which were earlier running on other servers were converted into open source
compatibility and hosted at NIF’s own web server at Bangalore.
Technology Exchange Link:
A link at www.indiainnovates.com was made operational to enable prospective and potential
licensees, entrepreneurs and established industrialists to enable them bid for technologies ready to
be licensed. This software has been contributed by SRISTI for use at NIF.
Software Development:
Some software using GNU (open source) technologies are being developed with the help of
CRANTI Technologies. MySQL is being used as database back-end while PHP / Python as
front-end. Details are listed below:
 Plant Reference Database:
The module is being integrated with National Register so that complete information about plants
used can be accessed pertaining to any herbal entry.
 Intranet Application (Sanchalak):
NIF initialized the intranet web application called ‘Sanchalak’ having the feature of Address and
PIC database consisting of more than 4000 addresses and PICs of the First and the Second
competitions
 Modification in Inward / Outward system:
It generates inward and outward reference numbers to all incoming and outgoing letters. Around
11,000 such references have been entered.
 Report generation facility in the National Register Database:
Various reports based on innovations, category and state-wise summary can be generated using
the National Register database. More than 1500 reports have been generated during the year for
different references.
 Document Search Engine:
A centralized system for accessing documents, it prevents loss of physical files and facilitates
multi-user access to all files. Searching for a document or correspondence for a particular
innovation becomes simple and easy.
Dissemination Activities:
a.
Multimedia CDs: Thousands of multimedia CDs describing Honey Bee philosophy, NIF’s
genesis and objectives and innovations were prepared and distributed among the public and
visitors for dissemination purposes. Version-wise printing of CDs has been initiated.
b.
Exhibitions, Seminars and Workshops: Several exhibitions and workshops were conducted
at different locations in the country.
Dissemination Events 2003-04
Sr.
No
1
2
3
4
5
6
Date
September 2003
October 2003
October 2003
January 2004
January 2004
January 2004
Description
Workshop and Exhibition, Tumkur, Karnataka
Exhibition at Portbander, Gujarat
TII Workshop, Hyderabad
Exhibition during 91st Session, Chandigarh
Exhibition at Uttarayan Mela, Ahmedabad
Mindbend, Surat, Gujarat
Organizer
NIF + SSIT
KVIC
CII
Indian Science Congress
Government of Gujarat
SVNIT
Dissemination Support Provided
a.
Posters: Around 100 posters presenting different innovations and general themes were
prepared. These were displayed on various occasions and events organised in India and abroad.
b. Shodhyatra: Two Shodh Yatras were organized during the year – one in May- June and
another in December. The Eleventh Shodh Yatra was conducted from Rudrapur to Dehgala Village
(May 26 to June 4, 2003) and the Twelfth Shodh Yatra (December 25-31, 2003) from Guddethota
to Chitrakut in Chickmangalur district, Karnataka with the help of SRISTI and NIF collaborators.
c. Fourth Campaign: The announcement for the Fourth National Competition in Hindi and English
were prepared and is being publicized through various communication means.
d. Reprinting of second competition Award Book: 400 copies of the first reprint of the Second
Competition Award book were brought out.
Intellectual Property Rights Protection Activities in 2003-04
During the year, 29 patent applications (10 from GIAN-NE have been filed, 5 have been filed from
NIF and 10 are ready for filing from NIF, four complete provisional applications filed) were filed in
coordination with various GIANs and other partners. The MoU between NIF and local communities
maintaining Peoples’ Biodiversity Register (PBR) was developed so that the data may be
incorporated in the National Register if found suitable.
NIF constantly tries to create IPR awareness within the organization. Senior scientists from DSIR,
and Department of Science and Technology visited NIF for capacity building in the field of
Intellectual Property Management.
Internship opportunities were provided to various college students. These students were involved
in conducting Prior Art Searches for various technologies from NIF database. They were also
provided exposure on prosecution of patent applications.
List of Patents Applied During April 2003- March 2004
Sr.No
Title and Patent No
1
Motorized Weeder
641/MUM/2003
2
Leaf Mat Making Appartus
498/MAS/ 2003
3
Cardamom Drier
517/MAS/2003
4
Water level Indicator
516/MAS/2003
5
Mobile Charger
431/MAS/2003
6
Moped LPG Kit
978/DEL/2003
7
Manual Washing Machine
643/CHE/2003
8
Power
transmission
Device for vehicles
380/ KOL/2003
9
10
11
12
13
14
15*
16*
17
18**
19**
20
21**
Innovator
Ramkumar
Law Firm
Anand & Anand,
India
P Marthandan
Anand & Anand,
India
P J Abraham
Anand & Anand,
India
Eldose Markose
Anand & Anand,
India
A N Manoharan
Anand & Anand,
India
Ram Kumar
Anand & Anand,
India
Remya Jose
Anand & Anand,
India
Rabindra
Kumar GIAN-NE
Debgupta
[innovator
and
entrepreneur are
taking care]
G C Gogoi
GIAN- NE
Anti-locking Device
379/KOL/2003
Process for preparation of Leena Talukdar
Mosquito Repellent
449/KOL/2003
Combating termites with Upasana Talukdar
Ipomea carnea Jacq.
448/KOL/2003
Power Saving Punp
Ram Naresh Yadav
354/DEL/2003
Innovator
GIAN-NE
Subramaniam,
Natrajan
and
Associates
Process for Medication for Ramesh Kumar Nehra Surana &Surana,
Kidney-stone
Chennai
Multi- purpose Bicycle
Mohd. Kamaruddin
Anand & Anand,
India
Manual Sprayer
884/MUM/2003
Automatic Sprayer
883/MUM/2003
Manual Sprayer
1051/MUM/2003
Multipurpose
Electric
Boiler
Khimjibhai Kanadia
Arvind. R. Patel
Gopalbhai Suratia
Pradeep Kumar
Multifunctional
Electric Bharat Srirang Kamble
Motor Protecting Device
963/MUM/2003
Portable battery operated Lalit Surana
Sprayer
940/MUM/2003
Buttonhole
Making Anil R Kamdar
Machine
Anand
India
Anand
India
Anand
India
Anand
India
& Anand,
& Anand,
& Anand,
& Anand,
Anand & Anand,
India
Anand & Anand,
India
Status
Examination Reply
Filed
Request
for
Examination filed
Request
for
Examination filed
Request
for
Examination filed
Request
for
Examination filed
Request
for
Examination filed
Request
for
Examination filed
Complete
specification filed
Complete
specification filed
Complete
specification filed
Complete
specification filed
Complete
specification filed
CS
filed
1255/DEL/2003
F.D. 13/10/2003
Response
for
examination filed
Response
to
examination filed
Request
for
Examination filed
Response
for
Examination to be
filed
Response
to
examination to be
filed
Response
to
examination filed
Anand & Anand, Response
to
India
examination to be
22
23
24
25
26
27
1261/MUM/2003
A formulation and process
of preparation of novel
remedy
for
Alopecia
Areata
225/KOL/2004
A
method
of
and
apparatus for extraction of
oil from Meat
602/KOL/2003
A
process
for
the
preparation and treatment
of backaches and bone
fracture
369/KOL/2003
Areca Nut
Dehusking
Machine
239/KOl/2004
Sprinkiling apparatus with
multiple nozzles
29
An Improved Screw
06/KOL/2004
Jute Making Stick
345/MUM/04
Portable Hand Pounder
30
Motor Protection Device
28**
Kailash
ChandraMishra
Yogesh Mishra
GIAN NE
&
filed
Complete
specification filed
Vekho Swarup
GIAN NE
Complete
specification filed
Pushpalata Saikia
GIAN NE
Complete
specification filed
Uddhab Kumar Bharali GIAN NE
Provisional
specification filed
Annasaheb Udgavi
Anand & Anand, Abandoned
India
1005/MAS/2002
31/12/2003
Mahabir Chowbey
Anand & Anand, Compliance
to
India
examination
U S Patil
Anand & Anand, Report complete
India
Uddhab Kumar Bharali Directly filed by CS
filed
GIAN NE
52/KOL/2004
FD 10/02/2004
Bharat Srirang Kamble Anand &Anand,
963/MUM/2003
India
** GIAN West projects
GIAN West
Incubation through GIAN-W
In addition to the five technology transfers enabled previously, GIAN West facilitated one more
technology transfer during the current year. In August 2003, for the first time, a group of four
technologies has been licensed to one entrepreneur. Non-exclusive rights for manufacturing and
marketing of four different types of sprayers - Auto Sprayer developed by Arvindbhai Patel,
“Kushal” Mini Sprayer developed by Khimjibhai Kanadia, Hand-Driven Sprayer developed by
Gopalbhai Surtia and Battery-Operated Sprayer developed by Lalit Surana of Madhya Pradesh were licensed for India to Nilgiri Industries of Ahmedabad. A young second generation
entrepreneur Nileshbhai Satasiya has paid Rs 1.11 lac out of the negotiated total technology
transfer fee of Rs 2.11 lac and has also agreed to pay 2.5 per cent royalty on sales for a period of 5
years.
Benefit Sharing Mechanism
In this technology transfer, we have also for the first time implemented a novel benefit sharing
mechanism based on the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) conceptualized by NIF. The amount
received from the entrepreneur was divided amongst the innovators (40%), Institutional
Agency (9.5%), IPR expenses (9.5%), community and environment (9.5%), WAIGIANIC
(28.5%) and expenses involved in facilitating the technology transfer (3%).
WAIGIANIC - A New Initiative
In the past six years, GIAN-W has faced difficulties in arranging funds for the development of ideas
and other small social innovations like Kittanal, Pulley etc. Such innovations suffer due to lack of
funds or delay in mobilizing the necessary funds from the concerned authorities. To overcome this
problem, GIAN -W proposed the creation of a separate fund with the money generated from
the licensing of successful innovations supported by GIAN-W. Western-region Association of
Indian Grassroots Innovators for Augmenting, Nurturing Innovations and Creativity (WAIGIANIC) is
being set-up with an initial outlay of Rs 85,000 from the contributions received from successful
technology transfers.
GIAN-W is in the process of giving a final shape to WAIGIANIC. It has sought opinion of innovators
and policy makers regarding the formal structure of WAIGIANIC.
Keeping in view the
administrative hurdles and extra burden over GIAN, WAIGIANIC has been proposed as an
informal body managed by innovators of the region under the supervision of GIAN-W and
SRISTI.
Completed Projects
Projects, in which either successful commercialization has happened or enough support and
awareness had been generated, are considered completed by GIAN. Aaruni Bullock Cart, Pulley,
Cotton Stripper Machine, Motorcycle Sprayer, Kittanal, Natural Water Cooler, Foot Sprayer, Kushal
Sprayer and Erisilk projects have been declared as completed projects.
Projects supported by GIAN West
Innovation Name and
Innovator’s Name
Vanraj TractorBhanjibhhai
4.5 HP TractorMulji Bhai
Shakti Motorcycle-
Project details and/or status
The prototype development, under financial support from TePP, has been
completed and the prototype has been submitted to CFMT&TI, Budni, for
testing and certification. Patent applications have been filed in India
and the USA. To facilitate commercialization, the innovator has
established Vanraj Agro Industry, a proprietorship firm. A business
plan has been prepared for starting the venture in collaboration with
an entrepreneur. Dialogue with other interested entrepreneurs from
Gujarat and Maharashtra is on for exploring commercialization
possibilities.
Taking into account the difficulties in standardization of the 4.5 HP tractor
and certification from statutory authorities, promoting the machine as
a motorized sprayer or multipurpose farming machine rather than as
a tractor.
An improved prototype of the
machine
has
been
developed
by
Driven Ploughing
MachineMansukhbhai
Jagani
Oil ExpellerKalpesh Gajjar
incorporating a new power transmission system with reverse gear facility.
Patent applications have been filed in India and USA. GIAN has also
received inquiries from
an
entrepreneur
of
Maharashtra
for
commercialization of the product.
Development of a standard prototype by redesigning the transmission unit
is underway with the technical support of a retired Professor of
Mechanical Engineering from L D College of Engineering, Ahmedabad.
We have received about 20 inquiries from Indian and Foreign buyers in
the past 12 months. Patent applications haves been filed in India and the
USA.
Diesel EngineMansukhbhai
Sanchalia
Preliminary market feasibility report of a small, lightweight 3.5 HP
diesel engine has been completed The Electrical Research and
Development Association(ERDA), Vadodara has been approached for
testing of the engine in order to verify the claims of the innovator
and for performance mapping. Based on the test results, the decision for
further support shall be taken.
Double-Acting
Reciprocating
Pump-
A double acting system has been blended with a balancing mechanism in a
reciprocating pump to increase the output of water, thereby saving energy.
With the financial support of TePP and NIF, working prototype was
developed and tested at the NIRMA Institute of Technology. The
efficiency of the prototype was recorded at 18%. However, experts were
of the opinion that the efficiency could be increased in the next
prototype with improved materials and more precision engineering. Patent
application has been filed in India.
Budhuba Jadeja
Innovative
Application of
WindmillBharatbhai Agrawat
With the help of an innovative gearbox in the conventional windmill
operated pump, it is possible to operate two reciprocating pumps on
the same windmill, thereby increasing its efficiency. The
innovator has developed a prototype with the financial assistance of
Gujarat Energy Development Agency (GEDA). GEDA is conducting
various field tests to study the performance of the innovation.
Bicycle SprayerMansukhbhai
Jagani
A bicycle-based sprayer has been developed. A student of NID is working
on the prototype to improve the aesthetics and ergonomics of the product.
Patent application has been filed in India.
Auto Air Kick Pump-
A device to inflate the tyres of two wheelers has been standardized under
the TePP scheme to make it market ready. Patent has been filed in India
and the USA. Exclusive manufacturing and marketing rights for India
have been sold to MouldWell Enterprise of Maharashtra. The company
has launched this product under the brand name COMPANION. Four
different models have been made for 21 models of two wheelers and a
fifth type for three wheelers.
Arvindbhai Patel
Bicycle HoeGopal Malhari
Bhise
The hoe using the front frame of a conventional bicycle has been further
refined with the financial support of GIAN, to develop a motorized
version.
Hand-driven
Sprayer-
The development of the improved prototype has been initiated by a
German student at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad under the
Grassroots Innovations Design Studio (GRIDS). The manufacturing and
marketing rights, on non-exclusive basis, for India have been sold to
Nilgiri Industries of Ahmedabad. The firm will be launching this product
under the brand name KISAN KING.
An innovative sprayer uses the jerks of the human body while walking to
provide reciprocating motion to a dead weight. It drives the piston to
generate the necessary pressure. No extra effort is required to operate the
sprayer, as in conventional sprayers. A student from NID worked on this
project and suggested a new model with improved aesthetics
and ergonomics. Patent application has been filed in India. Nilgiri
industries of Ahmedabad have been licensed the commercial rights on a
Gopalbhai Surtiya
Auto Compression
SprayerArvindbhai Patel
non-exclusive basis and is planning to launch it under the brand name of
KISAN MITRA.
Herbal
Formulations
GIAN is attempting to market formulations developed by the
SRISTI- Sadbhav Sanshodhan Laboratory with the help of Nileshbhai
Patel of Baroda. He has started the trial production. In addition, field
testing of these formulations is in progress in Rajasthan with the help of
GAIN-N, NIF and a local NGO.
Headload Reducing
Device-
A device for reducing the load on women’s head while carrying water has
been distributed to women through SEWA for generating feedback.
In order to standardize the product and make it user-friendly. GIAN also
organized a focus group discussion at GRIDS workshop in 2003.
Khimjibhai Kanadia
Innovative TongsArvindbhaiPatel
Dual Blade SickleKishorbhai
Bhardawa
Buttonhole
Machine-
Edging
Anil Kamdar
Gum ScraperKhimjibhai Kanadia
Milking MachineV A Johny
Motor Protection
DeviceBharat Kamble
Check DamBhanjibhai
Mathukia
The short comings of conventional tongs being used by women
while handling hot vessels in the kitchen was posed to various innovators
as a challenge. Arvindbhai who had developed Natural Water Cooler and
Auto Air Kick Pump also developed two different types of tongs, which
appear to have distinct advantages over the conventional tongs.
One of the innovative sickles uses a disposable blade, which can be
inserted into the main frame of the sickle like a razor blade. One
of the major suppliers of sickles in Punjab was approached for
validation and possible commercialization. GIAN has not received
a very positive response from either end-users or manufacturers so far.
A focus group discussion was organized to discuss scope for further
development in a low cost, user-friendly Buttonhole Machine at the
GRIDS workshop, 2003. TePP has been approached for financial
assistance for prototype development. Patent application has been filed in
India.
A simple device to collect gum from trees has been distributed in
North Gujarat with the help of SEWA. Feedback on the same is awaited.
As a part of the cross regional application of innovations, the
innovative Milking Machine developed in Kerala was taken up for
possible diffusion in Gujarat and Maharashtra.
An innovative electronic device, which prevents motors from burning due
to various power-related and other conditions has been tested at
ERDA, Vadodara. The claims of the innovator have been verified.
Commercialization is planned on pilot scale.
Inspired by the arch based railway bridge constructed by the British, the
innovator of Vanraj Tractor has designed an innovative multiple arch
check dam. With the financial support of NIF, preliminary technical
feasibility has been done with the help of students from IIT Kanpur.
With the support of GIAN North, this technology has been
replicated in Rajasthan. GIAN has also approached Gujarat Government to
support its wider replication.
New Projects under consideration by GIAN West for Providing Support
Sr. No
Innovation
1
Modified Bicycle
Innovator
Jayantibhai Patel
2
Seed
Cum Mansukhbhai
Fertilizer Dibbler
Jagani
3
Improved
Rotavator
sugarcane
4
Rambhai Patel
for
Innovative Stove
Balubhai Vasoya
Brief description
Gear-based innovative bicycle that has been
supported for prototype development
GIAN asked the innovator of motorcycle driven
Santi (multi purpose toolbar) to develop a device
for sowing seeds without the tedious sit-standsit method aadopted by farmers. He designed
and fabricated an innovative seed-cum-fertilizer
dibbler, which not only makes the sowing
process easier and simpler but also can be used
for plants or crops in which fertilizer is to be
applied at the roots. An entrepreneur from
Maharashtra
has
shown
interest
in
commercializing this technology in India and
abroad.
An innovator rotatovator has been developed. It
not only cuts the stubble of the left-over
sugarcane, but also mixes it with the soil to be
used as manure. Additionally, this rotavator can
also be useful for field preparation before
sowing a crop. Technical support for product
standardization is being provided.
An innovative stove utilizing electricity and
kerosene has been developed. It claimed that
this stove utilizes just one liter of kerosene for
eight hours of normal use. The testing of the gas
stove is underway by PCRA and GEDA to verify
the claims of the innovator.
IPR Initiatives and Accomplishments
Patent Applications: With the assistance of the IPR division of NIF, GIAN has filed Indian patent
applications for five innovations viz. Hand Driven Sprayer, Automatic Compression Sprayer,
Kushal Sprayer, Buttonhole Reinforcing Machine and Double Acting Reciprocating Pump. GIAN
has also filed one application in the US Patent and Trademark Office for the Auto Air Kick pump
developed by Arvindbhai Patel.
Patent Assistance Cell: As per the Patent Assistance Cell (PAC) Scheme of the Government
of Gujarat, 50% of the total expenses incurred by the patent applicant were to be reimbursed
at the time of grant of the patent. Given that patent award in India can take as much as five years,
GIAN made a request to the government to revise the scheme so that the reimbursement could
be sought by the applicant at the time of filing of the patent on the basis of the Patent
Application Number. The government is positively considering the request.
GIAN North
GIAN North has several innovations at various stages in the incubation cycle. Eight innovations
whose incubation has so far been facilitated are now being taken to the market and attempts have
been made to get these innovations commercialized, of which three were facilitated in this year.
Validation of Innovations
A Focus Group Discussion (FGD) on grassroots innovations was organised at GIAN-North on
November 17, 2003 with a view to seek expert opinion on technical feasibility of the innovations,
develop a technology/ product development plan, and gather experts’ opinion on market
potential and business development plan.
Innovations that were deliberated in the FGD
included (a) Remote Operated Cracker Firing
Device for Safety by Mr. Balram, (b) Innovative Tea
Making Machine by Ashok Dhiman, (c)
Electricity Generation from Road Transport by
Premsingh Saini, (d) Engine driven by
Compressed Air by Premsingh Saini and (e)
Electricity Generation from Road Transport (using magnetic rod at the bottom of the
vehicles) - by Premsingh Saini.
The first meeting of the Research Advisory
Committee (RAC) was organized on December 15,
2003 to discuss and evaluate the shortlisted
grassroots innovations from Rajasthan. A total of 86 innovations and practices were discussed
which broadly comprised of 3 categories namely (a) Herbal Medicines (either human and veterinary
use), (b) Agriculture and (c) Engineering (including farm implements). A team of 9 experts from
various disciplines evaluated only the latter two categories of the innovations and practices. A
separate RAC meeting was organized in January 2004 to discuss and comment on the herbal
innovations and TK. The committee recommended 8 outstanding innovations for further pursual.
GIAN North has communicated the comments of the expert group to NIF for further screening.
Technical Evaluation
A model for saving power, developed by Prakash Suthar of Bhilwara has been demonstrated and
submitted to the Department of Electronic and Communication Engineering, MNIT, Jaipur. They
have given their preliminary report highlighting the need of developing another prototype, which
could show the real potential of the device, particularly for the lighting-related applications. Modified
concept of bicycle and a diesel engine developed by Madan Singh Ratnu were discussed with
the Professors of the Mechanical Engineering department, MNIT, Jaipur. They
recommended
these models for prototyping for further evaluation.
Field Trial of Herbal Pesticides
A project on conducting field trials to determine the efficacy of two herbal pesticides developed by
SRISTI Sadbhav Sanshodhan Lab and one developed by an innovator from North East was
commissioned in collaboration with an NGO called SOAM (Society for Organic Agriculture
Movement), Jaipur. SOAM has submitted an interim field trial report of these pesticides to
GIAN North in the last week of January 2005, which showed that 13 farmers of different villages
were conducting these trials in wheat crop against termite and heliothis attack.
Validation / Documentation
GIAN - N prepared the scouting documents for several innovations such as Compact High
Sensitivity Microphone (Jaibhawan Saini, Kaithal, Haryana), Potato Digger ( Nitin Kumar, Hapur,
UP), Bulb Saver (Kamal Chajed, Kota, Rajasthan), Artificial Limb for Animals (Praval Dey,
Udaipur, Rajasthan), Magnetic Motor (Shyanvir Singh, Jaisalmer, Rajasthan), Model of Power
Saving Device (Prakash Suthar, Bhilwara, Rajasthan), Paddy Seeds Embedded in Clay Balls
(Ram Abhilash, Uttar Pradesh), Drinking Water Management for Animals through Hand-pump
(Shyambhu Sharma, Udaipur, Rajasthan), Mini Rotavator ( Ashok Kumar, Khore, Madhya
Pradesh), Herbal Medicine for Diabetes (Rajender Singh, Hanumangarh, Rajasthan), Tea Making
Machine (Ashok Kumar Dhiman, Panchkula, Haryana) and Remote Operated Device for Safe
Firing of Crackers (Balram Singh Saini, Ambala, Haryana).
Networking
GIAN-N participated in several activities and events in partnership with other institutes like India
International Center, New Delhi, PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry, New Delhi, Birla Institute
of Technology, Pilani, Entrepreneurship Management Institute, New Delhi.
Students of premier technical institutes like IIT- Kanpur and IIT- Kharagpur have worked on the
technical documentation and bridging technology gaps of innovations of North India. Market
research/ techno-economic viability studies have been carried out by the students of premier
management institutes like Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, Xaivier Institute of
Management, Bhubaneshwar, IIT- Kanpur, IIT, Mumbai, Aravali Institute of Management,
Jodhpur, MNIT, Jaipur . A SCAI chapter has been proposed at BITS, Pilani
IPR Activities
GIAN (North) prepared the technical documentation of selected innovations for filing of
applications for patent through NIF IPR cell [see in NIF IPR table].
Dissemination Activities at GIAN North in 2003-04
Exhibitions, Workshops and Presentations
A presentation and discussion on GIAN North activities and probable association with at the Center
for Entrepreneurial Leadership (CEL) of BITS Pilani were explored during their national event
“Ideas 4 Rural India” in March 2004. GIAN-N facilitated participation of innovators and other
stakeholders in Gram Shree Mela-Rural Science Congress organized by Magan Sangrahalaya
Samiti in February 2004 at Wardha, Maharashtra., Indian Science Congress at Chandigarh
in January 2004, an interaction with entrepreneurs on December 22, 2003 at IIC, New Delhi,
exposition and discussion on Grassroots Innovation and Exhibition at Chandigarh on April 2003,
TechKriti - 2003" – A technology fair organized by IIT, Kanpur in February 2003; and StoneMart
2003 – an international fair on marble industry organized at Jaipur by CII and RIICO in
February 2003.
Minister of S&T, Government of Rajasthan Madhav Singh Diwan visited GIAN-N on July 23, 2003
to discuss the possibility of association between DST Rajasthan and GIAN-N to support needbased grassroots innovations and their dissemination through proper channel. Dr. R A Mashelkar,
Chairperson, NIF and Secretary, DSIR, Govt. of India and Madhav Singh Diwan Honorable
Minister, S&T of Rajasthan visited GIAN-N on July 15, 2003.
Grassroots Innovations in Media
Activities of GIAN-N in support of innovators have received wide media coverage in Jaipur,
Chandigarh and Dehradun through Television, Radio and newspapers - Artificial limb for
animals – Rajasthan Patrika – Jaipur, July 31, 2003; Improved Multicrop Thresher – Vaigyanic
Dristikon, Jaipur – March, 2003; Tea Making Machine – Amar Ujala, Chandigarh Sept 23,
2003; Dainik Jagran, Chandigarh Nov 06, 2003, Punjab Kesari, Chandigarh Jul 7, 2003), Dainik
Bhaskar, Ambala Jan 28, 2004); and Remote Cracker Firing Device – Dainik Jagran, Dainik
Bhaskar, Dainik Tribune, Chandigarh – October 2003.
New Awards Announced
Impressed by the initiatives and interventions of NIF/GIAN-N in the interest of innovators, DST,
Govt. of Rajasthan has decided to institute a state award to encourage grassroots innovators. It
has announced “Rajasthan State Award for grassroots innovations” to be given to best three
innovators and one best scout from Rajasthan. To sensitize the media in this direction, Bhoruka
Charitable Trust, has sponsored a competition for “Best reporting on grassroots innovations” in
both print and electronic media for three years.
Projects Taken up by GIAN North for Value Addition in 2003-04
Sr.
No
1
Innovation
Innovator
Innovation Details
Status
Power
Saving
Pump
Ram
Naresh
Yadav
A double cylinder –
reciprocating pump that
saves energy
(electricity/diesel)
reportedly by about
60%.
Incubation support provided by
way of product development,
patent application and financial
assistance. Radically new, energy
efficient, lightweight prototype
of the pump developed with
contributions from two
entrepreneurs from Kanpur.
Entrepreneurs invested about Rs
3 lac in developing the dyes
of two critical components and
provided a salary of Rs 6000 to
the innovator in addition to a
share of 33% in the company.
Project closed.
2
LPG
Kit
for
Mopeds
Ram Kumar
An attachment
Developed for Mopeds
to on LPG instead of
Petrol for mopeds to
run on LPGas instead
of petrol.
Prototyping has been completed
and is with the innovator.
Innovator was requested several
times to supply the prototype for
further testing and evaluation. No
response received. Project closed.
3
Herbal
Medicine for
Treatment
of Kidney
Stones
Ramesh
Nehra
An herbal treatment
for removing kidney
stones. The
ingredients used are
grape leaves, glycerin
and lemon juice in
The medicine originally was
available in paste form; later,
two more forms were developed
in liquid and powder. The
innovation was discussed at
CDRI, Lucknow for validation but
definite proportions
added at a definite
time.
they did not have a model for
validation of kidney stone
medicine.
4
Hydraulic
System
for Marble Cutting
Machine
Shyam Sunder
Jangid
A concept that claims to
save energy up to
50% if hydraulic
systems are used in
stonecutting industry
in combination with
electrical motors.
Evaluation by IIT-G done. A
proposal for product development
was made and submitted to
DST under their TePP scheme.
The proposal is under
consideration and DST officials
want a personal interaction with
the innovator.
5
Horizontal
Wind Mill
Madan
Singh Ratnu
A new design of wind
mill in which the blades
are placed horizontally
instead of vertically.
Product development support
was provided to the innovator but
he could not complete the
development. Project closed.
6
Steam
Operated
Stove
Rajiv
Agarwal
A hybrid stove powered
by kerosene and steam.
Tested and modified by IIT-G.
Project closed
7
Electronic
Stick
for the
Visually
Handicap ped
Mayank
Shekhar,
Rajeev Verma,
Ratul Ahuja
and Anurag
Rastogi
An effective and easy
to use electronic stick
for the visually
challenged. It helps
to sense the moist oil or
stagnant water. It
contains an anti-theft
alarm also.
One prototype developed and
demonstrated at NIF and Blind
People’s Association at
Ahmedabad.
8
Power Saving
Device
Prakash
Suthar
Model of an electronic
device to enable
operation of multiple
devices using the same
power source.
Supported for prototyping. Two
prototypes developed and
evaluated at MNIT, Jaipur. The
results showed no saving of
power. Project closed.
9
Forage
Cutter
Karan Pal
Vishwakarma
The innovator has
developed a modified
version of forage
cutter using improved
materials and bearings
to reduce drudgery.
One prototype developed and
tested by the innovator. Also
displayed at some exhibitions and
received encouraging response.
Market survey conducted through
a management student.
10
Seed cum
Fertilizer Drill
Hazarilal
Ojha
An apparatus that
places the seeds
uniformly and covers
them with soil and
thereafter places
fertilizer over it.
Promoted the technology in
other states. Encouraging
response has been received from
Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka
already.
11
Multi-crop
Thresher
Madanlal
Kumawat
A thresher that could
be used for threshing a
number of crops. The
advantage is that the
grains are cleaner and
the changeover from
one crop to the other
takes very little time.
Provided help in adding new
features and bring out a lower cost
model. The new model is ready.
Extended some working capital
support to tide over his immediate
financial compulsions. Now, the
unit is on its way to revival. The
innovator has started a new
workshop at Wardha in
partnership with a local investor,
on 50% share in profits in lieu of
the technical know-how.
12
Trench
Nathulal
Cost-effective
Facilitating cash-credit facility
Cutting
Machine
Jangid and
Radhey Shyam
Tailor
indigenous machine for
trench cutting. It is
tractor driven and
ideally suited for laying
cables and pipes.
through MVIF, market linkage
and dissemination of this
technology to scale up its
operation. BSNL has shown
interest in this innovation for
trench cutting for fiberoptic
cable laying. Market survey done
through a student.
13
LPG- driven Pump
Rambilas
Sharma
LPG driven engine to
run pumps and/or two
wheelers
Extended financial and product
Development assistance to the
innovator at the time of financial
hardship. Market survey done
through a student.
14
Tea Making
Machine
Ashok
Dhiman
An electric machine
that makes Indian style
boiled tea. It consists of
timers that operate the
number of motors,
pumps and heater to get
the desired output. The
proportion of sugar,
tea leaves, milk etc, can
be controlled through a
control panel.
Second improved prototype of the
machine has been developed and
demonstrated before an expert
group. Electrical motors used
reduced from 9in the first
prototype to 6 and the function of
two timers was integrated into
one. Support has already been
granted for this product under
MVIF. An agreement has also
been signed between GIAN North
and a Jaipur- based unit for the
development of a prototype.
15
Remote Controlled
Cracker Firing
Device for Safety
Mr.Balram
Singh Saini
Firecrackers can be
ignited from a safe
distance, away from the
actual place of burning.
Various types of
prevailing crackers can
be ignited using any
standard TV remote
control.
Two prototypes have been
developed and, the second
prototype has been demonstrated
before an expert group. Based on
its recommendations, another
prototype is being developed.
Support has already been granted
for this product under MVIF.
Firework dealers at Jaipur have
also shown interest in procuring
this product, once it is developed.
GIAN North East Cell
During the financial period 2003-04, a portfolio of technologies were undertaken for testing,
product development, Intellectual property rights protection and business development. A
significant attempt was made to explore the market potential of innovations from other
regions in north eastern states to generate employment and augment livelihood options.
Similarly, given the access to IIT Guwahati, testing of technologies from other regions was also
facilitated.
Product Development
Testing
Some of the products that were on the testing phase during this period were (a) Power disc:
Transfer of technology was achieved for the power disc innovated by a professional R.K.
Debgupta after successful trials at IIT, Guwahati and Kirlosker Small Engines Division, Pune,
(b) Two herbal products - Herbal Termite Control and Herbal Mosquito Repellent were
developed by different girl students were sent for testing to Forest Reseach Institute, Dehradun, (c)
Low Discharge Zero Energy Water Pump by Imli Toshi is being tested by GIAN-NE team, (d)
Innovative fan blades were tested at Tezpur University and NAL, Bangalore and (e) Kerosene
cum Water Stove by Rajeev Agarawal was tested at IIT, Guwahati.
Prototyping
The following technologies were supported for prototype development: (a) Manual wood cutting
machine - Three different prototypes were developed and another model was sold to an
interested customer; (b) Zero head water turbine by Nirpen Kalita - The prototype for this
innovation has been made and successfully tested as a water pump. Theoretical research on its
electric generation capacity was initiated, (c) L drop auto door protector by Govinda Gogoi; (d)
Water filter by Imli Toshi, (e) Detachable Bicycle attachment and power tiller by Kanak Das; (f)
Bicycle power disc by R K Debgupta and (g) Innovative arrangement of fan blades by Nipul and
Bipul bezbora.
Business Development / Market Support
Rice Pounding Machine
With the help of GIAN-NE, Bharali, a local innovator from N Lakhimpur has been able to sell
more than 500 units of his rice-pounding machine within three months.
Automatic Flow Control
This is an innovation by Stephen Sangluaia of Aizawl, Mizoram for automatic control of water flow
in roof top water tanks. With the assistance of GIAN-NE, evaluation of the design and concept was
undertaken. He was also linked up with an interested entrepreneur for the Mizoram market, and
with CIPET for developing moulds for the plastic float component. However, the project had to be
shelved since the innovator wanted the device to be patented but NIF could not do so as it was not
patentable. Such an innovation by Mr. Manihar Sharma from Imphal, Manipur was already
discovered and funded by DSIR under the TePP Scheme.
Shoe Polish
This is a novel formulation of a shoe polish by Stephen Sangluaia of Aizawl, Mizoram. During this
period, an interested entrepreneur was linked up with the innovator. Further, preliminary work for
market research by MBA students from Assam Institute of Management was done. However, the
project had to be shelved since the innovator refused to disclose the formulations due to his
disappointment with not having been able to patent his earlier innovation.
Herbal Mosquito Repellent
Negotiations were going on with two small players - one from Haryana and another from Erode,
Tamil Nadu for supply of raw materials for the herbal mosquito repellent. Due to the limited
capability of GIAN-NE to further refine the product, the negotiations have been dropped. Efforts to
get help from formal institutes for improving product have not been successful so far.
Mosquito Repellent
Samples for coils prepared with own expertise at GIAN-NE, were not found to be feasible.
Research Centre for Aromatic and Medicinal Plants, Nogaon was contacted for possible
research on the plant, However,
they have expressed their inability to conduct such
verification and research activities. Letter of intent has been received from an entrepreneur, Mr
Parag Mahanta, who is ready to take up the termite control.
Bamboo Pen
With the assistance of GIAN-NE, a self-help group from Silchar, Assam, has managed to
semi automate their production of writing pens from leftover bamboos. They have been selling well
so far.
Technology Transfer
Technology know how of the Power disc innovated by
transferred to a local entrepreneur Deepak Das of Guwahati.
R
K
Debgupta
has
been
AUDITORS' REPORT TO THE DEPUTY CHARITY COMMISSIONER, AHMEDABAD
REGARDING AUDIT OF ACCOUNTS OF NATIONAL INNOVATION FOUNDATIONINDIA FOR THE PERIOD FROM 01-04-2003 TO
31-03-2004.
Regn.No.F/7412/Ahmedabad
1.
We have audited the attached Balance Sheet of NATIONAL INNOVATION
FOUNDATION as at 31st March, 2004 and the Income and Expenditure Account for the
year ended on that date annexed thereto. These financial statements are the responsibility of
the Trust's management. Our responsibility is to express an Opinion on these financial
statements based on our audit.
2.
We have conducted our audit in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in
India. Those standards require that we plan the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about
whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes
examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial
statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant
estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statements
presentation. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
3.
The Accounts are maintained regularly and in accordance with the provisions of the Act and
the rules.
4.
Receipts and disbursements are properly and correctly shown in the accounts.
5.
The cash balance and vouchers in the custody of the Trustee on the date of the audit are in
the agreement with the accounts.
6.
Books, Deeds, Accounts, vouchers and other documents and records required by us were
produced before us.
7.
An inventory, certified by the Trustee of the moveable of the trust has been maintained.
8.
The Chief Innovation Officer Dr. Sanjeev Saxena appeared before us and furnished the
necessary information required by us.
9.
No property or funds of the trust were applied for any object or purpose other than the
objects or purpose of trust.
10.
The amounts outstanding for more than one year are Rs. 54,000/- and Rs. NIL is written off
during the year.
11.
Repairs or construction work involving expenditure exceeding Rs.5000/- was not
undertaken during the year.
12.
No money of the public trust has been invested contrary to the provision of Section 35 of the
Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950.
13.
The trust has no immovable property.
14.
No special matter is to be reported.
For S. J. Pathak & Co.
Chartered Accountants
Place : Ahmedabad
Date : 14-08-2004
S. J. Pathak
Partner
National Innovation Foundation- India
Schedule -1
Other Fixed Assests
Particulars
Furniture & Fixtures
Computers
2003-2004
Opening
Balance as
on
01-04-2003
Additions/
Deductions
during the
year
Closing
Balance as
on
31-03-2004
502745
162982
665727
1878167
524600
2402767
Fax Machine
29232
-
29232
Refrigerator
8510
-
8510
EPABX System
51908
Xerox Machine
326402
-
326402
9405
-
9405
Fire Extinguisher
0
51908
Telephone Instrument
70933
23200
94133
Equipment (Camera)
10790
108980
119770
Equipments
11500
66315
77815
115544
126429
241973
Software
Electrical Installation
Total
CAPITAL EXPENSES NATP
11710
3026846
1012506
11710
4039352
RS.
Computer
206079.00
Printer
122400.00
Video Camera
47800.00
Still Camera
32590.00
Tape Recorder
24425.00
Total
433294.00
National Innovation Foundation- India
Schedule- 2
Sr.
No.
Other Advances
2003-2004
Particulars
Rs.
1
Cricket Club of India – Mumbai
0
2
CB Vijaya Vittala
0
3
National Physical Laboratory
0
4
Mr. N.M. Sampathkumar
0
5
Gujarat Techno.
0
6
Net 4 India Ltd.
0
Total
0
National Innovation Foundation- India
Schedule- 3
INNOVATION PROMOTION EXPENSES
2003-2004
RS.
RS.
A. General
a. Stationery & Printing Expenses
b. Conveyance Expenses
385642.00
55674.00
c. Xerox & Typing
196520.00
d. Telephone Expenses
144189.00
e.
161491.00
Postage Expenses
B. Administrative expenses
a.
Bank Charges
b. Legal and Professional Expenses
c.
Advertisement Expenses
d. Office expense
5997.67
7250.00
42027.00
43878.00
e. Travelling Expenses & Conveyance
228153.00
f.
Communication Charges
112943.00
g
Repairs and Maintainance
96989.00
h. Books & Subscription
i. Rent expense
j. Insurance Premium
k. Electricity exp.
l
Audit Fees
1545.00
355700.00
14284.00
153482.00
10800.00
m. Salary
463855.00
n. Recruitment Exp.
387703.00
o. Books and Periodical Exp
p. Meeting Exp.
q. Data Entry Charges
0.00
1214318.00
0.00
r. Consultancy Charges
85000.00
s. Staff Refreshment Charges
11182.00
943516.00
t. Security Exp
0.00
3235106.67
C. NATP
a.
Documentation & Background Research
43448.00
b.
HR for Scouting
89854.00
c.
Building Linkages
56113.00
d.
Dissemission & Awareness Creation
30300.00
e.
Stationery
f.
T. A
44229.00
g. Workshop
100000.00
132686.00
h.
Contructual Services
48903.00
I.
Grant
37000.00
582533.00
D. Information Technology
a.
Database
615047.00
b.
Computer Maintanance & Upgradation
216369.00
c.
Internet
102903.00
d.
Network Server
112998.00
e
Website/ Web Hosting .
334956.00
f.
Exhibition/Seminar/Workshop
160952.00
g.
Communication
15193.00
h. Travel
20015.00
I . Salary
362281.00
j. Computer Consumables
148458.00
k. Tranning
105960.00
l.
Consultansy Charges
E. Grants giveto
22000.00
2217132.00
Grant
GIAN WEST
119102.00
GIAN NE
1526000.00
GIAN NORTH
1309200.00
2954302.00
F. Business Development Activity
a. Salary
352133.00
b. Grant
2000.00
c. Exhibition/Workshop & Commpetition Exp.
d. Communication
e. Travel exp.
f. Training
138660.00
54716.00
1003003.00
110138.00
G. IPR Activities
a. Patent/ Trade Mark
78017.00
b. IPR Awareness
14156.00
c. Travel
39756.00
d. Communication
9193.00
1660650.00
e. Salary & Fellowship
1308438.00
f. Training
23935.00
g. Books & other Material
16796.00
1490291.00
H. Scouting & Documentation
a. Salary
690217.00
b. Grant
1190673.00
c. Travel
203556.00
d.
Communication
e.
Stationery & Printing
f.
Workshop/Seminar/Exhibition
g.
Videography & Photography
41290.00
2929.00
284649.00
5302.00
h. Books Magazine & Membership
463416.00
I.
164667.00
I.
Consultancy Charges
3046699.00
VARD Activities
a. Salary
252339.00
b. Grant
1000.00
c. Exhibition/Workshop/Seminar
2500.00
d. Stationery & Printing
1200.00
e. Communication
4782.00
f. Travel
7511.00
g. Training
23112.00
h. Consultancy Charges
32996.00
I. Awareness
14156.00
339596.00
J. AWARD Function Expenses
a.
Prizes
1500.00
b. Food & Accommodation
30100.00
c. Travel
41404.00
d. Stationery & Printing
e.
123000.00
Exhibition & Other Expenses
10378.00
Total
206382.00
16676207.67