Govt to launch public fund for promoting innovations

New Delhi, Nov 27 (UNI) Minister of Science and Technology Kapil Sibal today averred that his government will work for establishing a more creative and innovative society and this regard said a public fund for promoting innovative ideas would be launched soon.

Mr Sibal hinted that the fund could be part of Budget 2007-08 and indicated the broad contours of the scheme. It would entail 30 per cent as licensing fee or patent fee, 30 per cent will go towards funding the project and the balance 40 per cent will be given to the institute where the research takes place.

The minister was addressing a session here on 'Promoting Innovation in India: What Works Where' at the India Economic Summit, organised jointly by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The government can not expect private industry to start investing in innovation without investing in the University research system, added Mr Sibal.

Speaking on government initiatives to encourage innovation in the country, the minister informed that an existing scheme provides a grant of Rs 50 lakh to fund idea incubation and a loan of up to Rs 10 crore for commercialising the idea.

Mr Sibal also mentioned that the government would soon launch a scheme that would enable women to contribute to building the wealth of the nation from the comfort of their homes.

Inviting young scientists from India to undertake collaborative research, Mr Kiyoshi Kurokawa, Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of Japan and Professor, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) said, ''Opening up the resources and collaborating with countries within the region can create an advantage for the region. Japan has strengths in areas such as water management and can collaborate with countries to find innovative solutions that will benefit a large number of people.'' Both the ministers agreed that there was a strong case for collaborating at the global, regional and bilateral levels to find innovative solutions to meet the needs of the common man.

''There are issues such as global warming, climate change and diseases which no country alone has the resources to find solutions to. For such problems, there is a need to collaborate at the global level and pool resources to innovate,'' said Mr Sibal.

''India's real challenge is to build quality human resource and to increase the number of people doing innovation from the current 156 per million. India can build resources to meet the needs of the Indian sectors moving forward as well as collaborate with various countries to provide resources for their fast moving sectors.'' Biocon India Chairperson and Managing Director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said Indian industry and India as a country are at an inflection point and are transforming from being 'imitators to innovators'.

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