The Hindu Business Line : Technopreneur scheme to get Rs 60-cr boost

Kolkata, March 24 The 11th Plan budget for the Technopreneur Promotion Programme (TePP) of the Union Ministry of Science & Technology has been hiked to Rs 60 crore. In the 10th Plan, Rs 8 crore was disbursed under TePP against the budgeted Rs 10 crore.

The number of outreach centres engaged in the promotion of innovation under TePP is also set to go up from 20 at present to 30 by end-March 2009.

TePP is a joint initiative under the Department of Scientific & Industrial Research (DSIR) and the Department of Science & Technology. The programme is aimed at funding product ideas of independent innovators who are not attached to any institutional framework, according to Dr A.S. Rao, Adviser, DSIR.

Dr Rao told Business Line that funding under TePP was not based on invention but innovation, uniqueness and marketability of the product. “There is a base of knowledge that is available in the country. This can be leveraged to develop products to solve the problems of the nation. Innovators are required to address the bottom-of-the-pyramid market. Inclusive innovation can lead to inclusive growth,” he said.

Dr Rao said the ceiling for funding under TePP has been pegged at Rs 15 lakh. However, the average funding was in the Rs 3-4 lakh range. More than 200 innovators have been provided assistance under TePP. “Those funded under TePP need not be technically qualified themselves but their ideas have to veer round product-based innovation. They can be technicians, or even housewives. One group of innovators is doctors who design indigenous equivalents of imported products,” he said.

According to Dr Rao, all administrative operations under TePP were earlier centralised in New Delhi. The TePP initiative has now fanned out to several uncovered areas across the country through network partners and outreach centres. “It is difficult for small innovators to come to New Delhi to explain ideas in their minds. A decentralised system will enable us to reach out to a greater number of innovators, and thereby help us to increase disbursements as well. With this in view, we have decided to augment the number of outreach centres across the country from 20 at present to 30 by the end of fiscal 2008-09,” Dr Rao said.

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