Mrs. Poonam Yadav from IT Dept. of Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurgaon at Innovation India 2017
Mr. Manish Kumar Mishra from ME Dept. of Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurgaon at Innovation India 2017
Dignitaries during Panel Discussion onStartups : Opportunities and Challenges Day 1 (24 March 2017)
Inaugural session & address by Dr. Harsh Vardhan (Union Minister for Ministry of Science & Technology and Ministry of Earth Sciences)
Dignitaries during the technical session on Technology Commercialization from Universities/Public Funded Research on Day 2 (25 March 2017)
Address by Prof. Rakesh Bhatnagar (JNU, New Delhi)
Dr. H Purushotham (CMD, NRDC, New Delhi)giving thevaledictoryaddress
Presentation of Awards for Innovative Prototypes to the winners
Mrs. Poonam Yadav (Asstt. Prof., IT)and Mr. Manish Mishra (Asstt. Prof., ME) with Dr. H Purushotham (CMD, NRDC, New Delhi) and Shri K.R. Vaideeswaran (Joint Secretary (Admin), DSIR)
Faculty from Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurgaon at the conference
43rd NRDC Meritorious Invention Awards Ceremony & Conference
24th - 25th March 2017
Mrs. Poonam Yadav (Assistant Professor)from IT Department and Mr. Manish Kumar Mishra (Assistant Professor) from ME Department of Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurgaon attended the 43rd NRDC Meritorious Invention Awards Ceremony & Conference on “ Leveraging Innovation Ecosystem for Accelerating Startups”organized by National Research Development Corporation (An Enterprise of DSIR, Ministry of Science and Tech., Govt. of India) on 24th-25th March 2017.
National Research Development Corporation is an enterprise of Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, incorporated in 1953 as section 25 companies under Indian Companies Act to facilitate transfer of technology.
The objective of the conference was to encourage the inventiveness and inculcate the spirit of invention in the country by giving them awards for meritorious activities in various fields. Various stakeholders, including governments and the scientific and academic communities, were present on this occasion.
The various sessions during the conference were as follows:
Day 1 (24th March 2017)
Dr. Harsh Vardhan (Honorable Union Minister for Ministry of Science & Technology and Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of India) was the Chief Guest for the Inaugural Ceremony. He presented the Meritorious Invention Awards of National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) to all the winners in various categories. He said that in this context the Prime Minister looks forward for a new India by 2022. The Minister said that due to demographic dividend of the country, the next 5-10 years are expected to be a kind of golden era for the country. He urged all to move with a great self-confidence and zeal to achieve the glory that is due for India. He said that there is a need for greater innovation in institutes like NRDC.
Dr. Girish Sahni (Secretary, DSIR and DG, CSIR) discussed the NRDC with its good track record should further forge ahead to be a leader for taking the technology to the people particularly that which do not have sufficient financial support.
Shri Amitabh Kant (Chief Executive Officer, NITiAayog, Govt. of India) addressed the gathering and threw light on the steps and initiatives taken by Government of India with the necessary resources, knowledge and skills, that will enable to act with speed, promote research and to deal with contingent issues to provide innovation and entrepreneurial support to the country.
Shri Y S Chowdary (Honorable Minister of State for Ministry of Science & Technology and Ministry of Earth, Govt. of India) stressed the development of technology towards the exploration and exploitation of resources in a sustainable way for the socio-economic benefits of the society.
Shri B N Sarkar (Scientist “F”, DSIR, Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt. of India) discussed the formulation of schemes aimed at promoting industrial R&D, technology development and demonstration of innovative products and processes with a view to improve country’s industrial competitiveness. He also focused on promoting innovative technology in sensitizing Indian industries and R&D institutions towards increasing the technology content in the products and services offered by them and enhancing country’s technology intensive exports.
Plenary Lecture-I(Theme: Enabling Start-ups for Fostering Inclusive Growth: National Perspectives)
The speakers for the lecture were Pof. Sachin Chaturvedi(Director General, RIS, New Delhi) and Shri.Shailandra Singh (Joint Secretary, DIPP, Govt. of India). Prof. Sachin Chaturvedi discussed Innovation that it is the key to sustained industrial growth and major source of competitive advantage to industry for penetrating and capturing the global market. He also stated in order to promote a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation in India, the Government of India has launched a flagship initiative “Start-up India” on January 16, 2016.Under this programme, entrepreneurship is expected to be an ever more important source of growth and job creation in the years to come.
Shri. Shailandra Singh discussed 'Start-up India Programme' to expediting the entrepreneurial and innovation process in the country. He also discussed entrepreneurship and innovation needs to be systematically addressed to bring systemic changes in the society and the nation at large.He focused on factors such as availability of funding, consolidation activities by a number of firms, evolving technology space and a burgeoning demand within the domestic market has led to the emergence of startups.
Plenary Lecture-II (Leveraging Innovation Ecosystem: National Perspectives)
The chairperson for the lecture was Prof. Ashok Parthasarthy (Former Secretary, Gov. of India)and speaker was A S Kiran Kumar (Chairman, ISRO, Bengaluru). During the session, some important issues regarding untapped potential of new technology and solutions for pressing economic and social problems was discussed.
Panel Discussion (Theme: Startups : Opportunities and Challenges)
In this panel, the chairperson was Dr. Prahlad (Former Chief Controller (R&D) DRDO, New Delhi)
Speakers:
- Mr. H K Mittal, Head, NSTEDB, DST New Delhi
- Shri Jaydip Sinha, Sr. Managing Director, Madison Street Capital India Pvt. Ltd., Gurgaon
- Ms.PadmajaRuparel, President, Indian Angel Network, New Delhi
- Dr. H Purushotham, CMD, NRDC, New Delhi
The session was followed by a questionnaire and the discussion was thrown open to the attendees as well where everyone participated actively and several suggestions were made. Some important issues on policy and regulatory front will need continued attention in entrepreneurship sector and the policy should be data-driven, decision-maker and should lead to scaling up of the measures.
Technical Session I (Theme: Innovation Ecosystem for Promoting Startups)
The speakers for the session were:
- Dr. S S V Ramakumar, Director (R & D), IOCL, Faridabad
- Dr. J N Verma, MD, Life Care Innovation, Gurgaon
- Mr. MuditNarain, Manager, AIM, NitiAayog, New Delhi
In this session, moderator was Dr. D Yogeswara Rao (Adviser, CSIR HQ. New Delhi). He stated that Startup India is a flagship initiative of the Government of India which is intended to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and startups in the country to drive sustainable economic growth and generate large scale employment opportunities. The Government through this initiative aims to empower startups to grow through innovation and design. He highlighted the importance of participation of industry and academia for handholding of startups.
During the session, the experts shared their experiences and their journey from cradling the idea from thoughts to proof of concepts and successful commercialization. Several issues were discussed such as norms of public procurement for startups, funding support by government and harnessing private sector expertise for Incubator setup.
Day 2 (25th March 2017)
Plenary Lecture-II: Fostering Innovation through Startup
In this lecture, the chairperson was Shri Deepak Bagla, CEO, Invest India, New Delhi
Speakers:
- Dr. RaghunandanRajamani, Executive Director, ISBA, Noida
- Shri. Sandeep Singh Kohli, Cofounder, XlPat, Chandigarh
Speaking on the theme Shri Deepak Bagla said that organizations are beginning to recognize that in order to innovate they need to change their overall approach. Rather than competing against the growing number of digital start-ups, successful organizations are instead focusing on looking to innovate from the outside in. He also stated that organizations are now beginning to engage with start-ups and are achieving great success as a result, either by investing in them or by running accelerator programs.
Technical Session-II: Technology Commercialization from Universities/ Public Funded Research
In this session, the speakers were:
- Dr. S S V Ramakumar, Director (R&D), IOCL, Faridabad
- Dr. Muraleedharan, Director, CGCRI & NML, Kolkata
- Prof. Rakesh Bhatnagar, JNU, New Delhi
- Dr. Anil Wali, Managing Director, FIIT, IITD, New Delhi
The chairperson was Dr. BinduDey (Secretary, TDB, Govt. of India). She mentioned Universities and Research Institutes are large beneficiaries of public investments in research and development by applying academic knowledge into new or better products and processes has a substantial impact on the contribution of those public investments to economic development. By improving the process of knowledge transfer from public research organizations (PROs), countries can increase innovation in the economy and thereby raise productivity, create better job opportunities, and address societal challenges such as climate change and food security. Prof. Rakesh Bhatnagar shared his journey how he developed his idea into a successful product by negotiating on his own terms. He also gave some guidelines for the new entrepreneurs how they can emerge as fast-growing business that aims to meet a marketplace by offering an innovative product.
Shri K.R. Vaideeswaran (Joint Secretary (Admin), DSIR, Ministry of Science and Technology, Govt. of India) presented the awards to the winners for demonstrating Innovative Prototypes for Start-ups. The valedictory address was given by Dr. K V Raghavan (Former Chairman RAC, DRDO, New Delhi & INAE Distinguished Professor, Hyderabad). Mr. N G Lakshminarayan (Chief (BD), NRDC, New Delhi) gave the vote of thanks to all the esteemed guests, dignitaries, invitees and the participants.
The conference was informative and highlighted the importance of entrepreneurship and innovation in India. It was a good experience to be a part of panel discussion and the technical session by all the speakers were ineffably engaging.