Fourth Biennial Award Function of National Innovation Foundation

National Innovation Foundation, Ahmedabad announces its 4th Presidential Award Function on February 12, 2007 at IARI Campus, New Delhi – 110 012. The Fourth Competition which ran from January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2004, saw more than 14,000 entries sent from all parts of the country and included enthusiastic participation from the young and the old alike. The much awaited award function will be co-hosted by SRISTI, GIAN and Honey Bee Network where Honorable President, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has kindly agreed to grace the occasion and give away the awards to the winners. A total of 70 awards would be given in five categories, viz. National, State, Consolation, Appreciation and Challenge.

Training on essential oils

Fragrance & Flavour Development Centre (FFDC) has been set-up in the year 1991 by government of India (SIDO ) with the assistance of UNDP / UNIDO and Government of Uttar Pradesh.FFDC offers comprehensive training opportunities through well planned and professionally managed training courses not only on the theoretical aspects but also on the commercial processes on most modern laboratories and pilot plant.

Rahabilitation prducts

Innovators planning to develop products needed for rehabilitation need to know that RCI is the authorized body in the country and all trainers need to register with them. See their web site for registration procedure.

Training programme on Manufacturing Parabolic Solar Cookers and introduction to Renewable Energy Technologies

PRINCE (Promoters & Researchers In Non Conventional Energy), DHULE is organising a training workshop from 23rd to 25th February 2007.Scope of workshop will include:
1. All manufacturing details of ‘Parabolic Cooker of 1.4 m dia.’. Participants will be involved in manufacturing at least one parabolic cooker from scratch. A manual with all drawings, photographs and instructions will also be given to the participants. Information regarding operation, maintenance will also be practiced and will also be specified in the manual. Participants are expected to conduct all recommended tests on at least one cooker.
2. All details about policies of central and state governments, test procedures, test centers, registration with Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, subsidies etc. for these cookers.
3. Costing, material procurement, specifications, marketing strategies etc. for parabolic cookers.
4. A presentation and lectures on “Entrepreneurship in Renewable Energy”. Introduction to other renewable energy technologies. These sessions will set tone for the participants for dos and don’ts in renewable energy profession.
5. Introduction and basics of solar thermal technologies including different cooking systems, water heating systems, air heating systems, solar vegetable dryers etc. Special emphasis will be given on following issues.
a. Manufacturing aspects of Solar Vegetable-Fruit dryer for food processing applications. Demonstrations on Solar dryers/air heating system will be held.
b. Different solar water heating systems, criteria for selection of system, capacity calculations. Detailing on installation, commissioning, plumbing, selection of material for pipe and insulation etc.
c. Introduction to ‘Scheffler Concentrators’.
6. Introduction to other Solar concentrating cooking systems like ‘Balcony Solar Cooker’, Community solar cookers etc. Technical details of these systems will be shared with the participants.
7. Organisers will not charge any royalty or technology transfer charges for ‘Parabolic cooker of 1.4 m’ domestic model (SK-14). For other indigenously developed products agreements for royalties will be required.
8. Brief exposure along with demonstrations to other renewable energy technologies like biogas, biomass will also be given.
9. Site visits.
10. One copy of Manual and Certificates will be issued to all participants.

Medium of Instructions: English and Hindi.

Fees: Course fee for the workshop is Rs. 4000/- per participant.

Interested- contact Prof Ajay today.

News on SINE, IIT, Mumbai

SINE at IIT, Mumbai is TePP Outreach partner. Currently, SINE hosts about 17 companies in varied domains. From companies dealing with software in financial services, software for the Internet, hardware and software for the retail space, simulator to analyse fatigue and fracture in machines and their lifespan, robotics that aids education, companies that deal with geographical information systems, SINE is a testimony to India's innovative prowess. Buoyed by the huge interest and exceptional ideas that SINE receives every month, the incubator will be expanded to accommodate 50 companies. Read the article in rediff.

Robotic Workshops

TePP Outreach partner-SINE, IIT, Mumbai is sponsoring TRI ( The Robotics Institute) Robotics workshops for school children on 6th Jan Mumbai (IIT Bombay) 13th Jan Delhi (DPS RK Puram), 20th Jan Mumbai ,27th Jan Chennai, 3rd Feb Hyderabad and 10th Feb Bangalore. The worskhops are free of charge to school children. See TRI website for details.

Camera Mouse

One of the TePP facilitated innovation is ` Camera Mouse'-hand-held computer mouse like device that will connect to a common television screen, and that will help to magnify and display small printed text onto the Television screen with high degrees of magnification. The model exhibited at 94th Indian Science Congress was appreciated by one an all. To quote Dr MS Swaminathan` this is a very important contribution assisting Visually Handicapped persons to enter the world of knowledge. We all are indebted to Mr Raju for this labor of love for Differentially abled persons'.

BYST

Bharatiya Yuva Trust (BYST) has been providing loans to young entrepreneurs of rural India. They signed a VC agreement with IFC for a fund of 5 million US dollars to help one lakh entrepreneurs. TePP innovators can take their assistance to start their enterprises. Contact :
Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust
C/o, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)
23, Institutional Area, Lodi Road
New Delhi - 110 003
Tel: (011) 24629994 - 7.
Telefax: (011) 24693079.
e-mail: byst.delhi@ciionline.org
Contact Person: Ms. Jyoti Chaudhary

Financial assistance from Coconut development board

Coconut development board under technology mission offers financial assistance for technology development, demonstration and adoption. Support is offered for programs like `Management of Insect Pests & Diseases affected Coconut Gardens' and `Processing and Product Diversification'. TePP innovators in related areas are advised to avail the benefits.

94th Indian Science Congress

Indian Science congress will be meeting at Chidambaram from 3rd to 7th Jauary 2007. Several TePP innovators will be partipitaing in the exhibition organised during the congress. List of innovators invited:

1.Shri M.S. Raju, Vision-Aid Charitable Services Society, Visakhapatnam, 2. Shri A.N. Shukla, New Delhi, 3. Shri I. Panneerselvam, PARAMAKUDI, 4. Shri V.K Ajikumar, Tiruchirappalli
5. Dr. B. Ramesh, Ernakulam, Kerala, 6. Shri T. Sriramkumar, Coimbatore, 7. Shri Balaji Sowmyanarayanan, Chennai, 8. Dr. A. Jagadeesh, RMK Engg. College, Kavaraipettai (Chennai)
9. Prof.(Ms) Vimala Devi, Pondicherry, 10.Shri G. Gnanamani, Perambur, 11.Dr. Sanjay S. Lakade, Aurangabad, 12.Shri R.A. Yadav, Former Scientific Adviser to CNS, M/o Defence, Delhi
13.Shri KVKL Narasimha Rao, Hyderabad, 14. Shri Deepak Raj Rao, Chennai, 15. Shri K. Nagarajan, Dindigul, 16. Shri N. Rajendran, Erode, 17. Dr. Vijayan Ravi Kumar, Trithala (Kerala)

Taking innovations to market

Taking innovations to market is often more challenging than cretaing an innovation. During my visit to PDMA international conference held at R.M.K.Engineering College (near Chennai) on 20th December 2006, I came across two organisations succeful in this task. SELCO ,based in Bangalore takes solar appliances to masses with an innovative fiancial package. They can be contacted at SELCO, #313, 12th Main, 15th Cross , 5th Phase, J P Nagar, Bangalore - 560078, India. International Development Enterprises (India) based in Delhi has successful track record of taking farmer friendly technologies to market in a sustainable way. They can be contacted atINTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ENTERPRISES (INDIA), C 5/43, Safdurjang Development Area (1st & 2nd Floor), New Delhi 110016. The orgnaisation received Ashden award 2006 for diffusion of `treadle plump'. Other notable Indian awardee is Appropriate Technology Institute (ARTI) for compact biogas system and Vivekananda Kendra - NARDEP (VK-Nardep) for a series of advances to biogas designs.

Patent for Dr Ravikumar

Dr V. Ravi Kumar, well known dentist from Palakkad developed `Endodontic Instrument For Root Canal Sterilization' with support under TePP. His innovation has now received Indian patent (No:202137).

Congratulations to Dr Ravi Kumar for bringing root canal treatment real and affordable.

Inventions from SN Mathur

Sri SN Mathur is a serial innovator and has developed Energy Efficient Geyser with TePP support. One can set temp at comfortable level and take direct shower using this Geyser. He also patented Punchureless tyre, Energy efficient Dessert cooler, Mosquito trap, Air conditioner and econoiser for cooking stove. All those innovations are licensed/ marketed by Mars International, located at Ghaziabad. Contact person, SN Mathur, alokaa11@hotmail.com

Triple helix model

The interaction meeting held on 28th & 29th Novemeber 2006 at IIT Kharagpur, with TePP network partners has been a stimulating experience. Some information on Triple Helix model is shared here.

University based incubation , assisting the growth of spin-off firms through a dedicated facility providing subsidized space, consultation and other help to encourage entrepreneurship is a world wide phenomenon. This originated in the USA at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) two decades ago as an explicit organizational format and since had spread all over the globe. Incubator development varies according to academic and regional conditions, the focus was on spin-offs from faculty in USA, reverse engineering adaptation in catching- up economies and an emphasis on student organized firms in Sweden etc. Triple Helix model of university-industry-government has at its core a university as a source of new technologies and had its origins at MIT and Stanford in the early 20th century. At MIT incubation was needed to revive a declining industrial region and at Stanford the need was to develop a green field site in a region largely lacking in industry.

The triple helix comprises universities and other knowledge producing institutions, industry including high tech start-ups, MNCs and government at various levels.The incubator format is reinterpreted and re-invented to respond to local conditions, opportunities and problems. The flexibility of the incubator model has allowed its adaptation to the problems of low-tech as well as high tech firms, the formation of cooperatives as well as corporations, linear extension of academic research and reverse linear importation of industrial problems and business concepts into academia. The principles of incubation in a triple helix of university-industry relationships can be expressed in the following propositions ( Henry Etzkowitz):

-The development of science and technology is increasingly embedded in the triadic relationship of university, industry and government.
-Institutions in each sector play hybridised roles that move them away from classical understanding of the sector, for instance, entrepreneurial academics, academic industrialists and business strategy in government.
-Incubators are organisations that internalise the triadic relationship and encourage and provide home for these hybridised roles.
-Networks at various levels, among incubator firms, incubators and institutional spheres have the potential to enhance the rate of innovation and inventive activity, both technological and organisational.
-High-tech innovation is universalised as developing countries with the ability to develop human capital in niche areas are able to translate these competencies into internationally competitive technologies and firms.
-Incubation exemplifies the emergence of a triple helix science, technology and innovative policy.

RMP Jawahar-International Champion of Business Incubation for the year 2006

TePP network partner, RMP Jawahar- Executive Director of TREC-STEP has been awarded International Champion of Business Incubation for the year 2006 by UKBI during UKBI's Annual Conference Sustainable Features at Birmingham on 20th Nov 2006. It is an honour he richly deserves for his untiring efforts in promoting entrepreneuship in the country.

Opulence 2007

Industry-Institute Partnership Cell & Entrepreneurship Development cell of Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University are organising a 3 day workshop on genesis of entrepreneurial ventures from technological innovations during 12thto 14th January 2007. Interested ? contact- Dr PK Mishra, Co-ordinator of TePP Outreach Center at drpkm18@rediffmail.com

Play Pump-innovation from S Africa

At the end of another school day in Acornhoek – a rural community in the semi-arid eastern part of South Africa – children shriek with laughter as they whirl each other around on a colorful merry-go-round. Women carry home buckets of water. But there is more to this scene than meets the eye. Forty meters under ground, each turn of the merry-go-round powers a pump. At 16 rotations per minute, it pumps water effortlessly to a 2,500-liter storage tank, supplying the needs of the entire community at the turn of a tap. Read the fascinating story.

2nd global forum on business incubation

2nd global forum on business incubation was held at Hyderabad from 6-10 November 2006. Delegates from over 60 countries participated. Three TePP innovators
Shri Ajee Kamath, Kochi
Ms. Natasha Sodhi, Guwahati
Shri VVS Rao,Secunderabad
participated in the exhibition held during this event.Their innovations were greatly appreciated by all the delegates.

free assistance in Provisional patent filing

India Patent Agent Arjun Bala and Abhishek Raju, an IP enforcement expert offer consultancy in IP strategy. They offer free assistance in provisional patent filing to selected TePP innovators.
Check their web site http://myipstrategy.net/default.aspx.
Interested- contact us.

General Information on Research & Development Funding Schemes of Central Government Departments/Agencies

Many innovators have enquired about this. They can download this information from DST web site.
http://dst.gov.in/r&d_funding/rdfs2.htm#dst