DARE - Because Entrepreneurs Do

Marking the beginning of a unique partnership between Agilent, Department of Science and Technology and Confederation of India Industry, the three parties signed an MoU for India Innovation Initiative - i3, to jointly transform innovations into major enterprises. The uniqueness of the initiatives lies in the partnership, which brings together the global expertise of Agilent in transforming innovations into products, the strong knowledge based networks of DST and the demand base for innovations from CII.

Explaining the need for such an initiative, Dr. T Ramasami, Secretary, DST, Government of India remarked, "Where other initiatives end with an award, the real action at i3 begins with an award, aiming to take the most potential innovations to the market through incubation, mentoring & commercialization support." i3 also enjoys the support of experts from IIM Ahmedabad who have committed to mentor and incubate the top 10 technologies. For the first time in India, a platform has been unveiled to encompass the widest participation of innovators. i3 is not restricted to schools, colleges, universities, Industry or institutes, but is open to all innovators above 18 years, irrespective of his/her background or profession.

Responding to a question on DST's role in the initiative, he said that apart from financial contribution towards implementing the initiative, DST will be involved in appraising the technology, providing knowledge system and mentorship and also in lending credibility to the entire initiative. He pointed out that out of a million idea, only 100 may be workable. And out of the 100 workable ideas, only one will work out. Picking up the right innovation requires a fair amount of experience through many years of intense participation in creating wealth out of innovations. Mr. Anuj Sinha, Adviser & Head, National Council for Science & Technology Communication, DST, said the technology will hopefully come as a revolution in innovation. The networks created by DST over the years, even upto the district level will come in handy to promote this initiative and spot the ideas from remote corners of the country.

"There are a lot of grassroot innovators who have potential ideas, but due to the long administrative processes and lack of linkages between agencies who help in taking the innovations to the market, these are left out. Through this joint initiative, we are confident that we will be able to reach out and lend an ear to innovative ideas, which can be captured for the benefit of industry as well as society", Dr Ramasami said.

Giving the welcome remarks, Mr. Venkatesh Valluri, President and Country General Manager, Agilent Technologies, said that the essential focus of innovation today is to drive price relevant technology for India. Explaining the thought behind the competition, he said, "i3 is a perfect platform for the future innovators of India to showcase and accelerate their skills and capabilities. Practical technology talent is critical to the growth of India as a base for cutting edge R&D and innovation across industries. Agilent is the world's premier measurement technology company and it is appropriate for us to promote technology innovations".

Mr. Y S Rajan, Principal Advisor, CII, stated that i3 is an effort to plough in knowledge of science for the well being of the country. Besides allocating adequate resources, CII will provide wide outreach for the program through its network of industry, government, R&D labs, Educational Institutions, NGOs and Innovation Promotion Organizations. CII provides the base for the demand for innovations. The best of innovations will be promoted to the Industry for commercialization and exploitation for wealth generation.

i3 aims to create an eco-system in the country that is conducive for growth through innovation by sensitizing, encouraging and promoting innovators and facilitating commercialization of innovations. Through this initiative all the partners bring in exclusive expertise to provide opportunities for innovators to harness the potential innovations to generate wealth, create employment and societal benefit.

This is a nation wide competition for innovation-based projects by Indian innovators above 18 years of age. Students, professors, innovators from R&D institutes & labs, industry professionals, individual and grassroot innovators - all are invited to participate in this initiative.  Interested participants can register online at www.innovationgrid.org/i3. The last day for submission of projects is 30th May 2009.

The uniqueness of this initiative is that this is a challenge-driven competition and the topic for this year is "Technology Innovation for Masses and Global Impacts".  The innovation should be technology based and should have potential to address some of the pertinent problems in the society related to Industry, community, global climate changes, water scarcity or any other such concerns/issues is eligible. The innovation should also have a potential for commercialization.

The projects will be judged by an expert panel of eminent scientists and industrialists. Original, application oriented and commercially viable innovations will be selected to enter the i3 National Fair in August 2009. The best of innovations at the i3 National Fair will win attractive cash prizes and supported for commercialization through incubation and mentoring by experts from IIM Ahmedabad.

Source: CII

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