Where ideas take off

Our Bureau Updated - September 26, 2012 at 10:06 PM.

Sangita Reddy, Chairperson, FICCI Andhra Pradesh, Dr John D. Evans, Corporate Vice-President,Technology and Innovation, Lockheed Martin Corporation and H.K. Mittal, Secretary, National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board, Government of India at DST-Lockheed Martin India Innovation Growth Programme and Hyderabad Technology Expo.— Photo: G. Krishnaswamy

A portable unmanned ground vehicle, a robotic, remotely operated vehicle (ROV), designed for use in the Indian Armed Forces and para-military services.

A coconut leaf recycling method, which uses a dense plant waste to recycle into a fertiliser.

A computer-based algorithm provides detailed diabetes management guidance documents and is called Diabetes Complication diagnosis and guidance.

These are some interesting ideas that have got good funding for commercialisation from investors. The technologies were showcased as part of the DST-Lockheed Martin India Innovation technology expo today in Hyderabad.

A total of 50 commercialisation deals were signed. An equal number of innovators are being provided business development support under the programme, which focuses on taking technologies from the idea to the market.

A whopping 28,000 proposals have been received in the six years since the initiative was launched in which the aerospace giant, Lockheed Martin, the Department of Science and Technology (DST), IC2 Institute, University of Texas and the Indo-US S&T Forum along with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) are collaborators.

So far, 284 deals have been signed. Of these, 201 are Indian innovations and 83 international said John D. Evans, Corporate Vice-President, Technology and Innovation, Lockheed Martin, US. The programme is world-class and the results are exciting, he said at the expo.

As per an analysis done by Datamonitor, 40 per cent of the innovations have come from South India. In terms of sector, the highest is pharma and healthcare (18 per cent), technology and services (17), energy, environment with 12 and 8 per cent respectively. The Secretary, Technology Development Board, H.K. Mittal said, “India has established itself as a place for frugal innovations. The programme is seeing a large number of ideas that are providing low-cost technological solutions.

>somasekhar.m@thehindu.co.in

Published on September 26, 2012 16:36