Annual Review - Summary Sheet
Title: Innovative Ventures and Technologies for Development (INVENT)
Programme Value: £38m
Project Code: 202927
Review Date: September 2014
Start Date: 4/08/2013
End Date: 31/07/2019
Summary of Programme Performance
2013/14
Year
B
Programme Score
Medium
Risk Rating
The INVENT programme was approved in August 2013 to invest up to £38m over 6 years to support
technological and business innovations for the benefit of the poor in the low income states of India and in
low income countries in South Asia and East Africa including Ethiopia.
India facing -Low Income States (LIS)
- £6m Support to incubators which will nurture innovative inclusive business ideas leading to 50
‘investment ready’ businesses.
- £18m returnable capital for replication and scale-up of commercially proven innovative
businesses in India’s low income states (LISs)
- £3m Strengthening ecosystem for inclusive innovations and impact investments
Global facing- Low Income Countries (LIC)
- £7.5m technical assistance to share and replicate successful innovations from India to low
income countries (LICs).
- £3.5m technical assistance to support knowledge-sharing on inclusive innovations between India
and low income countries.
Programme performance: In the first year of the programme implementation the focus has mainly been
on establishing partnerships and institutional structures for delivery.
India facing:
£6m Support to incubators:
 The partnership with Technology Development Board (TDB) was signed with DEA in September
2013. The design of the Incubation programme including the approach, strategy, structure and
governance has been conceptualised and agreed with TDB and other stakeholders including
incubators, start-up entrepreneurs and investors.
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Procurement capability assessment of TDB was conducted by the DFID procurement team and
based on its recommendation a joint procurement exercise was conducted following Government
of India (GoI) procedures to select the management agency (Vilgro). The contract agreement is
yet to be signed due to change in leadership at TDB.
£18m returnable capital:
 DFID contributed to the concept creation of India Inclusive Innovation Fund (IIIF), supported by
the National Innovation Council of India. Detailed discussions and negotiations on the Fund’s
proposed plans, governance structures, management fees and M&E methodology etc. were
taken forward and recommendations incorporated in their final document. The fund was
approved by the cabinet committee but has not been established due to political changes in the
government of India.
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As this was identified as a risk during the design of the programme and highlighted in the
Business case and submission, the team is currently exploring pro-actively exploring other
potential partnerships.
£3m Strengthening ecosystem:
 DFID in partnership with GIZ and Intellecap supported the creation and launch of ‘StartupWave’ a
Virtual Incubation platform. This platform is designed in consultation with incubators, corporates,
funds and start-ups to provide mentorship and assistance to start-up enterprises. 150 start-up
enterprises are currently using this platform.
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Two partnerships established to pilot Business engagement platform with UK and Indian
companies for increasing their development impact through innovative ways. Partnerships with
companies like Ericson, Vodafone, Narayan Healthcare to name a few are being explored.
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Partnership with NESTA, the UK innovation expert organisation, has been established to develop
UK-India innovation exchange platform. It will provide support and expert advice on innovations
in areas of policy, finance, tools and formats, Monitoring and evaluation. DFID will draw on
Nesta’s rich networks and investments to build partnerships where possible between India and
UK.
Global Facing
£7.5 m technical assistance to share and replicate successful innovations from India to low income
countries (LICs).
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MoU signed with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) for a multipartner challenge fund Millennium Alliance (MA).
7 proposals shortlisted for awards under MA in health and agri-food sectors.
A scoping study of Grand Challenges (GC) landscape in Health and Agri-Food sectors completed
by Price Waterhouse Cooper (PWC).
Agri-food sector GC in advanced stage of discussion with an existing platform for grandchallenge run by Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) including
partners like BMGF and USAID.
£3.5 m technical assistance to support knowledge-sharing on inclusive innovations between India and
low income countries. This objective will be met through direct partnerships as well as through
contracted agency.
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OJEU to set up an innovations knowledge exchange facility initiated
Sankalp Africa Summit organised in February in Nairobi which facilitated 24 India-Africa learning and
partnership connections that will catalyse investments and expertise for social enterprises. Done by
leveraging resources from the Knowledge Partnerships Programme (KPP).
Sankalp Summit held in Mumbai, facilitated participation from the 6 Sankalp Africa finalists, facilitated
discussions on opportunities for knowledge exchange and transfer with leading sector experts.
A high-level dialogue organized on India – Africa Innovations Transfer Convening in New Delhi. It
brought together heads of several African missions in India and government officials on India-Africa
innovations exchange for inclusive development. The event also showcased several innovations that
have potential of testing and adapting in LICs.
A partners’ forum on India-Africa innovations exchange has been initiated consisting of partners like
GIZ, IFC, Shell Foundation and DFID. The forum will facilitate coordination among donors to support
the development of innovation ecosystem; by bringing investors and investees together for
partnerships.
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Key Lessons-Overall
 INVENT presents a lot of opportunities to work holistically in the sector with multiple components
and partners (6-8) both in India (LIS) and LICs. While this provides opportunity to proactively
engage with diverse partners, this also translates into high transaction costs with respect to
management and advisory requirements. It would prudent to have coordinated plans and
consolidate partnerships.
Key Lesson-India facing
 The Political change impact on the programme : With the change in the government of India the
component (IIIF) which was seen as high priority and truly transformational by the earlier
government has fallen low on priority and may not take off at all. Highlighting the risk upfront and
having the option to redeploy the finances with other potential partner as a mitigation measure
has helped the programme explore other alternatives. The new government may repackage the
concept and launch it in a new structure and this may also be included in the alternative options
along with Fund of Funds (FoF).
Key Lessons - Global facing
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MA is a multi-partner platform focused on India facing innovations so far. Working on getting an
understanding of and consensus from multiple partners to bring in a global focus within the
existing framework of MA has been transaction heavy requiring time and complex negotiations. In
the first year of the programme, there is need to set aside more time for building a global
orientation to an existing partnership.
The instruments for funding Indian innovators to work in African and Asian LICs, through monies
provided as grants to an Indian partner is a continuous challenge for various players. For
example, DFID money paid into an FCRA account cannot be given to a partner who doesn’t have
a FCRA clearance. This has delayed providing grants to innovators who are not NGOs and
therefore are not eligible for FCRA clearance. This poses difficulty in working with private sector
entities.
MA will ensure long term sustainability of social enterprises by providing link up to equity, debt
funds through various platforms e.g. Sankalp etc.
For Grand Challenges work where DFID needs to partner with a Government of India (GoI)
enterprise, under FCRA rules there is limitation of GoI entity to spend monies in LICs. This
means looking for another instrument/pathway to channelize the funds. This also means
spending more resources on managing the fund by engaging a third party.
A. Introduction and Context (1-2 pages)
DevTracker Link to Business Case:
DevTracker Link to Log frame:
3881771
3899054
Introduction: Why is the intervention needed?
1. Despite high levels of innovations targeting the poor nationally, India’s social entrepreneurial activities
are unevenly spread, with significantly lower levels in the low income states. A recent report notes
that only 16% of enterprises benefiting the poor operate within India’s low income states,
notwithstanding the fact that these states constitute more than 60% of India’s population. There is a
need for increased investment to develop and pilot new ideas and approaches as well as to take
proven concepts to scale or to new markets.
2. Providing quality healthcare and education; improving agricultural productivity and quality of
livelihoods; and increasing access to energy continue to be amongst the most pressing current
problems facing India and low income countries today. Inclusive innovations in such sectors can
therefore have substantial developmental impacts on the lives of the poor.
There are a number of challenges across the innovations lifecycle that need to be addressed in order
to better deploy India’s entrepreneurial and technological capabilities for the reduction of poverty.
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Outline of the Programme: What Support?
i. Pilot and nurture innovative business ideas in order to build a pipeline of projects for future
impact investing and scale-up:
 India-specific ‘Grand Challenge’ Funds in health and agri-food, to help generate new solutions for
specific problems in these sectors that are relevant to India and LICs.
 Support to incubators which will nurture innovative inclusive business ideas leading to 50
‘investment ready’ businesses.
ii. Support knowledge-sharing on inclusive innovations between India and low income countries
through technical assistance for:
 Supporting a network of potential investors and investees from India in other LICs;
 Technical Assistance and roadmaps for exchange, adaptation and adoption of at least 5 inclusive
innovations developed for up to 3 LICs;
 Support evaluation studies undertaken on the adaptation and adoption of inclusive innovations.
iii. Support the scale-up of innovative enterprises in the low income states through:
 Direct patient capital investment in commercial innovations that benefits poor;
 Providing capital to a Fund of Impact investment Funds that in turn invests in commercial
innovations that benefits poor
 Strengthening ecosystem for inclusive innovations and impact investments
Expected Key Results
The programme is expected to support technological and business innovations to benefit up to 1m
people belonging to poor and lower income segments (BoP), as producers, consumers, employees and
suppliers in India’s poorest states and in LICs.
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At least £25m investment mobilized for inclusive innovations
Over 7,500 new jobs created
Over £30m increased taxes generated
Up to 50 viable business ideas/enterprises provided training and technical assistance.
Upto 25 inclusive innovation pilots supported in LICs
Exchange, adaptation and adoption of up to 5 (of the above 25 pilots) inclusive innovations in
upto 3 LICs, focused in health and agri-food sectors;
At least 1 research and evaluation study undertaken.
Fit with DFID & UK strategic priorities
The project contributes to the Prime Minister’s vision of a development ‘golden thread which aims to
make poorer countries attractive to invest in and remove the barriers that hold prosperity back.
Furthermore, the project contributes directly to achieving the DFIDI Operational Plan objectives and
aligns well with the transition of the DFID India programme away from large resource transfer to focus on
small-scale TA, private sector investment through returnable capital and engagement with India on
global development challenges.
The project will contribute to the HMG prosperity agenda by building links with the private sector, and
improving the overall environment for innovative businesses. Innovation is an important theme within the
HMG-India relationship. The project responds to several priorities agreed at the recent Ministerial-level
UK-India Science and Innovation Councili meeting: better understanding of innovation metrics and
collaboration; boosting interaction with SMEs; helping innovative businesses and academia to
collaborate; and focus on priority sectors, e.g., food and health.
B: PERFORMANCE AND CONCLUSIONS (1-2 pages)
Annual Outcome Assessment
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The programme was approved in August 2013, this is the first annual review for INVENT. The
programme scores “B”. 5 out of 7 milestones have been achieved. However, milestone 2.1 which
contributes to over 50% of the overall programme impact weighting has not been achieved.
The first year was dedicated to put the systems and partnership in place for all the three outputs to
deliver the programme outcomes
 Partnership agreement of TDB signed with DEA in September 2013
 Management agency for TDB identified in Jan/Feb 2014
 Partnership contract with Intellecap signed in Sep 2013, with co-funding from GIZ for
developing Virtual incubation platform
 Partnership with Samhita (Sep 2013) and NextGen (Mar 2014) established for piloting
the Business engagement platforms
 Partnership agreement signed with NESTA in August 2014, for promoting India-UK
Innovation knowledge exchange
 Partnership with FICCI on multi partner MA signed in September 2013
 First set 7 global proposals, in Health and Agri-food sectors under the MA challenge fund
finalised August 2014.
 OJEU call for Innovation Knowledge Exchange Facility (IKEF) tendered August 2014
 Sankalp Africa Summit organised in Africa - provided platform for innovative Indian and
African enterprises and investors to meet and form partnerships February 2014
 Monitoring, reporting and evaluation frameworks agreed with partners.
Aggregate Output Score and Description
Programme outputs moderately did not meet expectation. This is a complex programme with multiple
components. There is an India facing window and a global facing window.
Output1: Identify, pilot and nurture inclusive innovations in LICs.
1.1: Pilot and test new solutions in LICs (approaches or technologies) to tackle global problems in key
sectors
1.2: No. of Business ideas/ early stage start-ups graduating from incubation support to receive series A
investments in LIS
For the first year the output milestone for both the indicators above are to set up systems in place, build
partnerships, sign partnership agreements, identify management agency and agree delivery plans to be
able to achieve the milestone targets for the coming years. Most of the above was achieved on time
except for signing off the contract between TDB and Vilgro (the management agency identified through
TDB procurement process) due to the change in leadership at the TDB. The Grand Challenges
framework for health and agri-food sectors is yet to be in place.
Output 2: Support the scale up of innovative enterprises
2.1: No. of viable business enterprises supported for scale-up into LIS through patient risk capital
investments
Milestone for 1st year is Decision on IIIF partnership finalised; Alternative options explored
Due to the delay in the launch of IIIF and the possibility that the fund may not be launched in the current
form and structure due to change in government, the team is working on a back-up plan including a Fund
of Fund option as a mitigation strategy as highlighted in the Business case.
The team met with the Secretary, Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME), the key ministry for IIIF
as part of the review to explore alternate partners /need to go to GoI.
2.2: Strengthening ecosystem for inclusive innovations and impact investments: All the milestones for
year one have been achieved - Pre-incubation platform of StartupWave was launched and used by 150
start-up enterprises; two partnerships on business engagement platform initiated and established and
the UK/India Innovation Knowledge exchange partnership signed. Integration and consolidation of
partnerships is currently being thought through.
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Output 3: Support knowledge sharing on inclusive innovations between India and LICs: This output has
three indicators:
3.1. Evaluation Studies/Operational Research Studies undertaken. A study covering three innovative
pilots will be carried out during the programme period but none are envisaged in the 1 st two years. To be
initiated in the second year of the programme.
3.2 New Partnerships for exchange, adaption and adoption of inclusive innovations developed in LICs
No indicator for the first year. This denotes the partnerships that will be formed between the Indian
innovators and the focus countries partners that will arise out of IKEF. In the first year an OJEU has
been initiated to place the facility on ground to identify and run these inclusive innovations.
3.3 No. of innovators targeting BoP receiving business development services (BDS) and technical
assistance in LICs. This refers to the ecosystem support strengthening for innovators. Sankalp Africa
summit was organised wherein over 12 enterprises participated to explore market opportunities and key
business partnerships.
Key Actions – Overall programme (not covered in summary sheet)
 DFID India should have a contract under the tendered OJEU in place by February 2015 to start
work on IKEF. (Sabina/Sugandh)
 MoU with BIRAC on Grand challenges on Agri nutrition signed (Dan/Sangeeta Sippy)
 DFID India should have the GC frameworks for both sectors in place by January 2015. (Dan/
Sabina)
 DFID India should allocate sufficient advisory and management time for each partner and
component
 DFID India to finalise mechanism and secure funding for evidence building through evaluation of
pilots funded in LICs by March 2015. (Sabina/Sugandh)
 7 LIC pilots awarded by September 2014 under MA. (Task team)
 DFID India to constitute an influential ‘Advisory Board’ for the TDB incubation and virtual
incubation components by November 2014.
 DFID India to finalise the Returnable Capital partner with frameworks agreed with GoI by Dec
2014.
 The programme envisages joint evaluation of the project including both LIS and LIC facing
components. (INVENT team) However, LIC facing component needs to identify and source
additional funds for the same by February 2015. (Sugandh/Sabina)
Has the logframe been updated since the last review?
Given the evolution of components both India facing and LIC facing, the log frame outcome and output
indicators and milestones have been revised to better programme, track and manage the first full year of
partner activities (2014/15) and their expected contributions to the programme’s overall results, to ensure
a coherent and synergistic programme deliverables across various components.
C: DETAILED OUTPUT SCORING (1 page per output)
Output Title
Identify, pilot and nurture inclusive innovations in LICs
Output number per LF
1
Output Score
B
Risk:
Medium
Impact weighting (%):
35%
Risk revised since last AR?
n/a
Impact weighting % revised
since last AR?
n/a
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Indicator(s)
1.1 Pilot and test new solutions
in
LICs
(approaches
or
technologies) to tackle global
problems in key sectors
Milestones
Systems and
partnerships
established
Progress
Outputs moderately did not meet
expectation. Two of the three partnerships
are on track.
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MoU signed with a multi-partner
challenge fund-MA;
first set of 7 global proposals under MA
in health and Agri-food sector finalised;
framework for global awards for third
round agreed with partners;
an OJEU for setting up IKEF tendered;
Scoping study to provide the landscape
of grand challenges completed; based on
the recommendation of the scoping study
a partnership between the Gates
Foundation, USAID and BIRAC on an
existing agri-food grand challenge,
negotiations at an advanced stage.
On health GC discussions with various
partners including BMGF, USAID, Grand
Challenges Canada and IDRC held and
various modalities being worked out.
Key Points
`
DFID has signed a MoU with the Millennium Alliance(MA) an existing challenge fund run by FICCI and
has committed £2 million for the same. The MA is a platform to leverage Indian creativity, expertise and
resources to source and scale innovations being developed and tested in India that will benefit poor
populations across India and the world.
DFID India signed up to the MA in September 2013 when FICCI was already in the middle of their 2nd
round for proposals. This was primarily an India focussed call so DFID was not able to incorporate the
global facing aspects into it. Therefore in agreement with the partners at MA, the DFID programme team
shortlisted top 10-15 proposals each from the two sectors, from rounds 1 and 2 with potential for work in
LICs. The team engaged PEAKS call down service for appraising agri-food proposals and an expert on
health proposals that were shortlisted to ensure a structured approach for finalising awardees. DFID
India has finalised around 7 proposals for funding from the round 1 and 2 in health and Agri Food sector
and will be awarding the same in September.
DFID India, in parallel, also revised the documents and associated application formats to include the
global aspect into the next call after consulting with the MA partners.
An OJEU was tendered in August – IKEF with the aim to first scope the demand in the focus countries
and then find a suitable innovation in India to be able to address this demand and help build
partnerships. This was a complex and time consuming process.
Under the early ideation component, there is grand challenge (GC) work £ 5m where it was decided to
first undertake a scoping study given the wide landscape that exists in India and globally. Hence a
scoping study was contracted out to Price Waterhouse Coopers which was completed in February 2014.
The study suggested that it would be more feasible to form partnerships with existing GC platforms.
Therefore discussions were initiated with various players in the field like the Gates Foundation and
USAID to explore opportunities to work together on grand challenges on agri-food and health. The
discussion on an existing agri-food grand challenge which is a partnership between the Gates
Foundation, USAID and BIRAC, a government of India enterprise, is at an advanced stage. On health
GC discussions with various partners including USAID, Grand Challenges Canada and IDRC is on.
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Earlier attempt to enter into partnership with an existing India call on health run by BMGF has not been
successful.
Lessons and Recommendations
 MA grant awards to be provided in mid-September.
 IKEF agency to be in place by February 2015.
 GC framework for agri-food and health to be in place by January 2015.
 As various elements of this output involves engagement with a number of partners who have
multiple areas of focus it is important to get understanding of and consensus on the Global facing
objective that INVENT brings to the partnership. This has meant finding flexible and innovative
mechanisms for partnership and channelling funds and has been transaction heavy.
Indicator(s)
Milestones
1.2 No. of Business ideas/ early TDB
Partnership
stage start-ups graduating from established;
incubation support to receive
series A investments in LIS
Progress
Moderately met expectations
Approval of the detailed project report (DPR)
from DEA, MoU was signed on TDB
partnership between DEA and DFID on 29th
Sep 2013. DFID did a Procurement
Capability Assessment of TDB process in
Oct 2013
Management
Upon satisfaction of TDB’s procurement
Agency
Identified process, TDB & DFID jointly selected Vilgro,
and contracted
as the management agency for the
programme following a two stage GoI
selection process in Feb 2013.
The contract was to be signed in May ’14
between TDB and Vilgro but has been
delayed due to leadership change at TDB
Key points
As per the directive from GoI to have an Indian intermediary for the private sector programme,
Technology Development Board, under the Ministry of Science and Technology was identified as our
partner. The partnership with Technology Development Board (TDB) was signed with DEA agreeing the
overall principles of the programme in September 2013. This Partnership is to support public and private
Incubators to generate up to 50 ‘investment ready’ social enterprises that can be scaled in the Low
income states of India.
Vilgro (a pioneer Indian Impact Incubator promoted by IIT Chennai) was selected as the management
agency for the programme through a 2 stage selection process following GoI procurement procedures
after a procurement capability assessment by the DFID team.
Due to change in leadership at TDB, it is awaiting final agreement sign off between TDB and Vilgro.
Meetings have been conducted to bring the new leadership up to speed on the project ideology and
plans. It is anticipated that the contract will be signed by October’14. In the interim DFID is exploring the
possibility of supporting Vilgro directly to continue the development of action plans and partnerships in
order to ensure no further delays take place in the project implementation.
The team had also worked on bringing other potential partners who could value add to the outcomes of
the project. One such potential partners is the US based Lemelson Foundation which is focussing on
invention based enterprises and we are in final stages of agreeing on additional activities that will be
financially and technically supported by Lemelson Foundation, a US based organisation supporting
invention based start-ups. The UK NESTA partnership signed will facilitate knowledge sharing of best
practices in impact incubation between UK and India.
Lessons and Recommendations
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Working with Government intermediaries has its own challenges, apart from ‘bureaucratic delays’
what also emerged from TDB partnership is that change in leadership might impact the
fundamentals of the programme design. In order to ensure that we don’t face further challenges a
strong ‘Advisory Board’ may be constituted.
Output Title
Support the scale up of innovative enterprises in low income states
Output number per LF
2
Output Score
B
Risk:
Medium
Impact weighting (%):
50%
Risk revised since last AR?
n/a
Impact weighting % revised
since last AR?
n/a
Indicator(s)
Milestones
Progress
2.1 No. of viable business
enterprises supported for scale up
into LIS through patient risk capital
investments
Decision on IIF
partnership finalised;
Alternative options
explored
Outputs moderately did not meet expectation.
2.2 Strengthening ecosystem for
inclusive innovations and impact
investments
Pre-incubation
platform for Virtual
Incubation tested and
used by stakeholders;
Outputs moderately exceeded expectation.
DFID India partnered with GIZ and Intellecap to
co-create the virtual incubation platform where
the ‘Pre-incubation’ phase is tested and widely
used by stakeholders.
2 Business
Engagement platforms
piloted
Two Business Engagement platforms piloted in
partnership with NextGen and Samhita.
Discussions on going on 5 models of
engagement with companies like Ericson,
Vodafone, Narayan Health care, HP.
UK/India Innovation
Knowledge exchange
partnership signed
UK-India innovation exchange partnership signed
with UK based NESTA
Value additions to
cross HMG and HQ
innovations work
complimenting the
programme
Advisory inputs to the design of Newton Fund;
Participate and contribute to the business
innovations group Complementary work explored
with Innovations Hub
The team went a great length in finalising the
documentation and partnership with the IIIF in
the last year. Due to the delay in the launch of
IIIF and the possibility the fund may not be
launched in its current form and structure, due to
change in government. The team is working on a
back-up plan including a Fund of Fund option as
a mitigation strategy as highlighted in the
Business case.
Key Points:
2.1 No. of viable business enterprises supported for scale up into LIS through patient risk capital
investments
This RC component was planned with DFID as an anchor investor in GoI’s proposed India Inclusive
Innovations Fund promoted by the previous government’s National Innovation council under budgetary
support from Ministry of Small and Medium enterprises. The India Inclusive Innovation Fund was built on
the principle that innovative enterprises can profitably, scale, and competitively engage citizens at the
bottom of the economic pyramid, both as producers and consumers and, in doing so, transform their
lives for the better. This would happen through generation of employment, livelihoods, income and
wealth and creation of goods and services that would improve their quality of lives.
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DFID participated in several discussions on the concept and negotiate on the Fund’s proposed plans
including the governance structures, management fees and M&E methodology etc. that formed a part of
the final documentation. The fund did not get launched due to bureaucratic delays and interdepartmental coordination. The new government in its budget speech in June 2014 announced a new
scheme to promote innovative start-ups and assigned the same Ministry of MSME as the anchor
ministry. It was expected that IIIF will be resurrected with a different name. The team is currently
exploring the option with MSME ministry.
Due to the delay in the launch of IIIF and the possibility that the fund may not be launched in the current
form and structure due to change in government, the team is working on a back-up plan including a Fund
of Fund option as a mitigation strategy as highlighted in the Business case.
2.2 Strengthening ecosystem for inclusive innovations and impact investments
The need to strengthen the social enterprise and impact investment ecosystem in India gained further
ground in the last year with many investors crowding the market with very few deals. In addition GoI
approved the new Company’s Act that mandated certain companies to spend their 2% profit before tax
for social initiatives. Both these scenarios presented an opportunity to test the following initiatives
supported though the programme:
Virtual Incubation
‘Virtual Incubation’ is an integral component of INVENT and is designed to complement the support
provided by the brick and mortal incubators and start-ups through the TDB partnership. As part of this,
DFID helped co-create the virtual incubation platform, StartupWave in partnership with Intellecap and
GIZ. This is built as an industry infrastructure for the Indian start-up ‘pre-incubation’ (idea or unrefined
business model) and ‘incubation’ (pilot or revenue stage) ideas. As a collaborative platform, it is a onestop service, providing a blend of virtual and in-person support to take start-up enterprises from idea to
investment stage.
As of now the platform has a fully tested version of the ‘pre-Incubation’ phase and is testing areas to be
considered for ‘incubation’ phase complementing the real time incubators. This platform is designed in
consultation with and is being used by incubators, corporates, funds and start-ups
Key achievements:
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190 entrepreneurs are currently going through pre-incubation, further on-boarding is in progress
23 incubators on boarded as partners and have been engaged over the past few months;
including 6 from LIS
20 mentors on boarded and have been engaged since inception , 10 mentors actively providing
support to entrepreneurs
Partnership discussions initiated - HealthStart, Indian Angel Network, American Society of
Mechanical Engineers, TiE
Upcoming event: Bangalore pitch day on 20th August. This is organised in partnership with
Startupbootcamp Berlin. This event will bring together 10 entrepreneurs and 10-15 mentors
(investors/ serial entrepreneurs) who shall be given a demo of StartupWave and will help us in
generating ideas for the next phase of platform development.
India –UK Innovation knowledge exchange
NESTA is a not for profit organisation committed to supporting innovation and entrepreneurship for
economic growth and social good. They have expertise in building ecosystems to scale innovative
ventures. Partnership with NESTA for “Building Capacity for Innovation with Impact Partnership” was
established in the week of 4th August 2014. The work plan for this 18 month contract has been finalised
and the first capacity building workshop is planned for October. NESTA partnership will help share best
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practises, develop tools for Monitoring, help create networks with UK companies, investors and
enterprises in addition to system strengthening and capacity building of INVENT partners.
Business Engagement pilot
The Companies Act 2013 has ushered in a new regulatory stance towards Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) in India. Section 135 of the Act lays down mandatory requirement to spend
annually at least 2% of average profits of the previous three years on CSR activities for qualifying
companies. This local context coupled with Ministerial priorities in DFID to engage with the thriving
private sector Businesses and unleash its potential to deliver positive development outcomes provided
us the opportunity to pilot 2 Business engagement platforms.
TA facility for CSR-Samhita partnership
Samhita social venture are the CSR consultants appointed to design the TA facility was to assist UK
and Indian companies on their 2% PAT CSR effort to increase the (a) Effectiveness and efficiency of the
CSR initiatives aligning with national priorities or the MDGs; (b) Inform and improve the design and
content of the CSR programme; (c) To test out innovative ideas (d) Brokering cross sector partnerships;
(e) Conducting targeted research and events to enable partnerships between stakeholders; (f) Offering
support in building capacity to implement the programme ( designing, operating models, incorporate best
practices and management tools Like monitoring frameworks).
Projects undertaken: (1) Conference on potential for CSR in Education – Ensuring Impact helped 50
corporates, NGOs, policy analysts on potential scope for CSR spend in education and provided them the
opportunity to engage in hand-on CSR designing and planning to apply at respective workplaces.
(2) Rural Electrification Corporation - TA in assisting the company to scale their Affordable school
support programme to assess the effectiveness of the model and upsace.
3) HP-Narayan health Care Partnership on health care services. Discussions in advanced stage 5
health care units will be operational by Oct in low income states.
4) CII-Community Impact fund – education + fund where multiple companies can contribute their CSR
finances and choose from a menu of products for support eg nutrition or sanitation
5) Vodafone-Building an ecosystem for Disaster Relief & Management and are likely to achieve their
targets by December 2014.
Impact of the CSR-Samhita Partnership: At the end of this pilot, the facility would be likely to reach out
to more than 80 companies directly impacting over 15 companies and 10 NGOs
Business Call to Action for Women and Girls managed by NextGen
A multi-stakeholder platform to facilitate collaborative action on issues related to the Safety, Health,
Education and Employment (S.H.E) for girls and women. The aim is to create a platform for the private
sector to collaborate on initiatives that will benefit girls and women, in and outside the work place,
through the S.H.E initiative. In its pilot phase, we aim to reach out to at least 2500 girls and women, with
25 private sector signatories on board each committing to one or more of the S.H.E pillar/themes.
The initiative was launched in March 2014 by DFID’s Permanent Secretary Mark Lowcock through a
google hangout along with HSBC and Vodafone on the panel. Since then we have drafted the compact
document for the signatories, reached out to 29 companies between March – June, and received in
principle agreement from 18 companies including Vodafone, Sainsbury’s, HSBC, John Lewis, HDFC
Life, Godrej and A4E. The formal signing ceremony is due to take place in August – September 2014.
Learning and Recommendations
Virtual Incubation-Startupwave
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


While the Virtual incubation platform is designed to benefit entrepreneurs and Incubators across
India , the team should now focus on expanding outreach in LIS
The SW could serve as a pipeline sourcing platform for other DFID Returnable capital projects
like Samridhi, so it is recommended that DFID partners like SIDBI, SBI etc. are involved as
evaluators of the programme
Explore potential partnership opportunities with UK incubators/ accelerators for joint events and
collaborations through the NESTA partnership
Business Engagements
 Pick up 1 or 2 initiatives emerging out of Samhita pilot preferably those that have the potential to
engage corporates in large numbers aligning with the SHE pilot for next phase of scale up
 The team is in conversation with the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA), a body of the
India Ministry of Corporate Affairs responsible for monitoring the CSR act. Post the pilot, team
should look at a strategic partnership with IICA to ensure long term sustainability of ideas and
interventions.
Output Title
Support Knowledge sharing on inclusive innovations between India and low income
countries
Output Score
Output number per LF
3
A
Risk:
Medium
Impact weighting (%):
15%
Risk revised since last AR?
N/A
Impact weighting % revised
since last AR?
N/A
Indicator(s)
Milestones
Progress
3.1. Evaluation
Studies/Operational Research
Studies undertaken
None
Key priority area considering systems are in place. The
evaluation or operational research study will include 3 case
studies from across the portfolio.
3.2 New Partnerships for
replication, adaption and
adoption of inclusive
innovations developed in LICs
3.3 No. of innovators targeting
BoP receiving business
development services (BDS)
and technical assistance in LICs
None
None
The agency contracted to implement the IKEF will also carry out
process documentation and case studies for the pilots being
implemented. They will assist in collecting baseline for the
evidence building study which will be carried out by a third
independent entity. As the funding for evaluation is not
adequate; we are exploring the possibility of getting it financed
through other sources within DFID and have initiated
discussions with various departments. We will be finalising the
mechanism for the same in the second year of the project.
It is envisaged that all the three components of the global facing
window – MA, IKEF and Grand Challenge will feed into
successful uptake of innovations.
Exceeded expectation
Under the exchange piece, partnership with an innovative
ecosystem building approach Sankalp was initiated. The first
event Sankalp-Africa was held in Kenya in February 2014
where 24 innovators from India were showcased and over £1.5
million were promised as investments.
Key points
No. of innovators targeting BoP receiving business development services (BDS) and technical
assistance in LICs
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The Sankalp Africa Forum, a cross-Africa platform launched its first annual summit on 12th -13th
February in Nairobi, with support from DFID India, DFID Kenya and the Shell Foundation. This Forum, a
replication of a previously successful Indian model, will provide a platform to help draw out private and
public sector proposals for investments worth up to an estimated $1.5 billion in pro-poor businesses
across Sub Saharan Africa.
The opportunity to engage with Sankalp on the Africa summit early on while designing the programme
for exchange meant finding funding from somewhere else in the global programme. The Knowledge
Partnership Programme (KPP) was therefore leveraged to fund Sankalp Africa summit and provided
early advocacy for partnerships that will be facilitated through the programme.
Key Activities
435 people came together for Sankalp Africa Summit, from 25+ countries including 12 African nations.
During the summit 24 India-Africa learning and partnership connections were facilitated.
Sankalp Unconvention Summit in Mumbai facilitated participation from 6 Sankalp Africa finalists. The
summit enabled discussions on opportunities for knowledge exchange and transfer with leading sector
experts.
As a follow up of Nairobi event a high-level dialogue was organized on India – Africa Innovations
Transfer Convening, New Delhi. Heads of several African missions in India, government officials,
development partners and innovators from diverse sectors shared, transformative stories, exchanged
ideas and engaged in relevant debates on India-Africa innovations exchange for inclusive development.
Result
Over 12 enterprises participated across both summits to explore market opportunities and key business
partnerships across regions. 11 funds, with an average fund size of US$ 30 million looking to make
investments in early stage SMEs, evaluated over 100 applicants from businesses in several African
countries to select winners of the first Sankalp Africa Awards. Investment funds committed an average
US$150,000 each in debt and equity investments to some of the 12 finalists. A clear demand for
structured knowledge exchange and transfer has been established during the two summits. African
enterprises indicated early interest to gain access to Indian markets in order to source inputs and
machinery to improve manufacturing and production efficiencies. 6 shortlisted African entrepreneurs
travelled to India for Sankalp Mumbai Summit to gain business support and partnerships.
Key lessons and recommendations
The project does not have adequate resources to carry out 3 operational research studies as identified in
the BC. Therefore one evaluation study covering three pilots will be conducted which will provide
evidence on what works. Also in order to do this additional resources need to be sourced and already
the team has initiated discussions with various DFID departments.
There is a demand from African countries for proven Indian inclusive business models in specific sectors
like Agriculture, Clean Energy and Healthcare. Matching internal strengths to external opportunities;
customizing models for local context and right partnerships will be crucial determinants in successful
diffusion and adaptation.
D: VALUE FOR MONEY & FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE (1-2 pages)
Performance of key cost drivers
The key cost drivers for technical assistance as per INVENT BC:
1. Cost of services (fees): The fee of the management agency (Vilgro) came down by 85% by
bringing in a partner (Lemilson) who was willing to bear half the cost as their objectives aligned
with INVENT objectives.
2. INVENT incubation component had Virtual incubation strand to complement the real time
incubations. GIZ and DFID to support the platform as a Founding Partner and shred the costs for
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the initial phase bringing the cost down by 50% for DFID. The contract has progressed well and
delivered against the agreed milestones. Other corporates and development partners are being
roped in for upscale and ensuring sustainability. The direct contract came to an end in July 2014
DFID and GIZ (founding partner) remain engaged in giving strategic directions to take this
forward
3. (Millennium Alliance: £2million will be given to FICCI for setting up grants to innovations under
agri-food and health sectors for LICs. Management cost is 10% of the total grant amount.
4. We were not able to evaluate the performance of key cost drivers for returnable capital as this
component has not taken off the ground.
How does VfM performance compare to the original VfM proposition in the business case?
It is too early to evaluate the performance of the VfM measures the since three of its main components
have not taken off the ground. We will be able to review the performance of the VfM metrics as
mentioned in the BC in the next annual review.
Does the project continue to represent value for money?
Yes, with regard to measures of economy and efficiency as observed with some of the ongoing
partnerships like Virtual incubation, Business engagement, MA and Nesta It is early days for the
assessment of overall VfM, but early indications are positive.
Quality of financial management
We are reviewing spend and forecasts for all the components on a monthly basis, and are confident that
the future spending profile will align with forecasts. Progress is also being monitored through quarterly
progress reports and detailed six monthly reports. They will be required to maintain supporting vouchers
and other documentation for claims made under their contract with DFID retaining a right to examine
them if necessary. For the Accountable Grants, progress reports alongside the financial progress reports
will be submitted on a quarterly basis. The partners are using their standard systems and competitive
procedures, to ensure VfM. They will submit annual audit statements approved by accredited auditors.
Any asset purchases carried out directly by partners are conducted in accordance with DFID rules. This
will provide additional evidence in support of expenditure reported and claimed by them.
E: RISK (½ page)
Overall risk rating: Medium
Overview of programme risk
The overall programme risk continues to be medium as the sector context has not changed much both in
India and LICs. The change of government in India might be considered as an environment change but
the new government is pro innovation and enterprise development so we can conclude that the overall
programme risk remains medium
Review of Key risks that affect the successful delivery of expected results
Slow or limited take-up of innovations in LICs resulting in low spend in MA and GC: One of the primary
risk of INVENT’s global component remains that there is limited or slow uptake of the Indian innovation
INVENT supports in the low income countries owing to complicated funding mechanisms. This would
also mean less uptake of funds from MA and GC and hence slow spend.
Slow or no adaptation/adoption of Indian Innovations in LICs: It may also happen that the innovation may
not get accepted in the LIC country context owing to a number of factors.
Complex programme and time constraint: The programme is complex with at least 4-5 separate
partnerships and projects and requires large management and technical inputs. DFID will continue to
review the inputs required.
The establishment of the IIF is delayed: The medium to high risk as anticipated in the Business case
became a reality as IIIF was never launched by the previous government. The mitigation measure of
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identifying an alternative partner was activated during the year alternate partnerships are being explored
while the detailed project report will be submitted to DEA for their approval.
Inability to identify viable incubates that deliver social outcomes. This risk continues to be medium but
through the year the team has established strong networks and partnerships including the virtual
incubation platform that could potentially mitigate this risk to a large extent.
Outstanding actions from risk assessment
None
Due diligence actions
A procurement capability assessment was carried out on TDB to make sure the procurement process for
hiring the management agency for Incubation is done with at most transparency and accountability.
Since TDB proposed to use the GoI procurement procedures to contract the implementing agency for
the day to day management of the programme, PrG agreed to handhold and advise TDB on the
procurement and contracting of the Implementing Agency. In addition ACCF Initial Risk Assessment for
INVENT –Technology Development Board (TDB) component gave a scoring of 1/5
A fresh due diligence was not conducted for FICCI since the national team at DFID India had conducted
a due diligence for FICCI already for another project. This was instead used to assess their
implementing capacity. There were no serious findings. Proper due diligence process will be carried out
for any new partners.
F: COMMERCIAL CONSIDERATIONS (½ page)
Delivery against planned timeframe
India Facing
Overall the India facing component is progressing fairly against the approved timescales: Some
components have gone beyond the set targets and achieved example the Virtual Incubation platform,
others are on track but need constant monitoring example partnership with TDB, while some have not
progressed and have required the team to look at alternative options example – IIIF.
As most targets for year 1 were process oriented that programme has performed well against them. MoU
with DEA on TDB partnership, Procurement of management agency through TDB process, Partnership
with Intellecap to develop virtual incubation platform; Agreement with NESTA for building capacity for
innovation with Impact partnership; and both the Business engagement pilots are on track and have met
the agreed spending targets.
Delays and remedial actions
TDB: The contract between TDB and Vilgro got delayed due to leadership change at TDB. DFID and the
Vilgro are clarifying the programme components to the new TDB team and the contract is likely to be
signed soon. To offset the potential delay caused, the MA is reviewing the work plan to fast track some
of the activities with additional resources.
IIIF: Due to the delay in the launch of IIIF and the possibility that the fund may not be launched in the
current form and structure with the new government, the team has explored the Fund of Fund option
and will conduct discussions with the Ministry of plans of the new government on innovations.
Global Facing
The Global facing project is on track on the exchange component with the OJEU tendered and the MA
having completed its first round of proposals with DFID as a partner. The grand challenge work has also
started with the scoping work complete and potential partners identified for health and Agri-food sector.
This component is however a little slow on spending since it tends to be dependent on external partners
and cycle of a call takes almost 10 months. DFID is trying to leverage existing systems rather than
setting a new one.
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Various partnerships have been set up under various work-streams most of which are existing platforms
which DFID will /has joined. For the MA we have entered into partnership within an existing platform
which had different geographic and sector focus. Adequate revisions to the existing systems have been
facilitated to include the global facing element that DFID brings to the partnership.
Similar arrangement is being worked out for partnership with BIRAC which also has a number of
partners with different geographical focus. DFID funds will also be utilised to increase capacity of BIRAC
to manage and run the calls.
Project Spend:
The total project expenditure till date is £1,312,051
Spend under the India facing window: £279,519
Spend under the global facing window: £1,014,532
(Contribution to multi-partner Millennium Alliance - £ 1,000,000,
Scoping work for the Grand Challenges by PwC - £ 14,532)
Performance of partnership (s)
Common understanding and good working relationships have been established between all the partners
and stakeholders. We are in regular touch with the implementers through formal and informal means to
keep ourselves abreast of the progress and any issues to address. The regular partner meetings also
promote good communication and co-ordination.
Asset monitoring and control
No asset has been purchased till date by the Implementing partner. However, arrangements have been
set in the MoU/contract/agreements that any assets procured under the programme will be recorded in
the Asset Register and get updated each time a new asset is purchased. Partner will share updated list
of asset inventory every six months.
G: CONDITIONALITY (½ page)
There were no conditionality attached to this programme. DFID has ensured adherence to the four
principles to support poverty reduction and the MDGs, human rights and international obligations, public
financial management, good governance and transparency, and domestic accountability to all
development partnerships where possible.
H: MONITORING & EVALUATION (½ page)
Evidence and evaluation
India facing:
As this is the first year after the approval, there are no changes in the evidences based on which the
programme interventions are designed. Partnerships have either just started implementing or in the
process of implementations so no reporting back on the validation of evidences has happened. Hence
there are no changes in the theory of change and assumptions used in the programme design. Formal
monitoring systems have been put in place to monitor the evidence disaggregated by sex, age, region
etc. We are exploring supporting a monitoring. The project is considering supporting the PRISM
(Portfolio Risk, Impact and Sustainability Measurement) and sector level M&E platform.
Global Facing:
Building evidence of how innovative pilots are successful in a LIC has been committed in the BC as
there is lack of evidence in this space. For this an evaluation/assessment study consisting of 3 pilots will
be undertaken. The IKEF will also provide case studies of pilots/innovations being adapted and scaled
up in LICs.
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A monitoring and evaluation framework is being developed under MA to monitor all the pilots/innovations
being funded under the project. A limited call for proposal will be initiated by FICCI for an agency to be
contracted to carry out M&E functions across MA projects.
Overall programme:
On the evaluation for the overall INVENT programme, team is developing the terms of reference for
appointing the Evaluation agency who will set out the mechanisms to evaluate the key programme
indicators and report to DFID/partners on a bi-yearly basis. DFID has GEFA (Global Evaluation
Framework Agreement) call down contract. Using GEFA framework will have an advantage over the
normal OJEU process by not going through the EoI process but straightaway going for the RFPs from
the already shortlisted agencies/consultants. It is expected that the Evaluation agency will be in place by
November 2014.
Monitoring process throughout the review period (including beneficiary feedback)
Programme monitoring is taking place through regular management reporting, mid-year and annual
partnership reviews. This year project progress was assessed against Year 1 milestones, or baseline
data, where there is no milestone.
i
UK-India Science & Innovation Council (SIC) was chaired by David Willetts UK Minister of State for Universities and Science and Vilasrao
Deshmukh, Minister for Science & Technology, India.
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