Entrepreneur
- What can NIF offer to an entrepreneur looking for a business opportunity?
- Can I search for any suitable commercializable technology from your portfolio of offerings?
- What are the services (support) offered by NIF to an entrepreneur? What are the fringe benefits in dealing with NIF?
- What is a grassroots innovation? Please give example of wealth creation based on grassroots innovations?
- What is the process of technology transfer at NIF?
- How does NIF determine the business potential of a grassroots innovation?What method of valuation of technology is adopted by NIF?
- Does NIF target technology licensing route alone or other business models are also considered for the commercialization of the grassroots innovations?
- What shall be the possible ways of commercialization if the technology is not in final product form but under development?
- What is the technology incubation cycle at NIF/GIANs ? Can I join as one of the incubatee any where along the development cycle?
- Shall I be offered a rental place for incubating my business? What infrastructure support shall be extended to me?
- Shall I avail financial support for technology commercialization? In what areas can I be supported from NIF?
- What is MVIF? What is the operational framework of NIF?
- What are the eligibility criteria for a project to be supported from MVIF?
- What shall be the fee or charge towards services extended to me?
- What framework for benefits sharing is considered for technology commercialization?
- Does NIF help in IP protection? How should one approach to seek IP protection?
What can NIF offer to an entrepreneur looking for a business opportunity?
NIF offers several wealth creation opportunities across more than 15 sectors of our economy.
- Agriculture - plant variety
- Agriculture machinery and farm implement
- Agro based food processing machinery
- AC / ventilation machinery & equipment
- Auto components, accessories & garage equipment
- Construction & building equipment
- Consumer durables
- Dairy machinery
- Earth moving and excavator machine
- General purpose machinery & equipment
- Electronic gadgets
- Energy conservation and generation technology
- Environment and Forest Management
- Transport
- Natural Resource management and Traditional knowledge
- Herbal formulation (for animal/crops/human usage)
- Mixed return (social and commercial) technology
- Open source technology
In addition to the technology, NIF extends all necessary support i.e. business planning, strategy, financial, promotion and networking support for creating an enterprise. Subsequent, NIF and GIANs provide handholding support in initial phase of the enterprise when it is most susceptible to market risks.
Can I search for any suitable commercializable technology from your portfolio of offerings?
There are several channels for searching commercializable technologies available with NIF/GIANs;
visit the link : http://www.nifindia.org/bd/product_list
There is an advance search engine to select technologies based on the criteria;
- Search as per word / phrase
- Intellectual property right protection such as patent granted or pending, design registration
- Regional consideration based on the source of innovation
- Based on the 18 categories of technologies (http://www.nifindia.org/bd/product_category)
- Technology status i.e. ready to market, idea/concept, prototype development, testing & validation, market testing
Or else write to us at info@nifindia.org, bd@nifindia.org
For off line mode, please use address;
National Coordinator- Business Development
National Innovation Foundation (NIF)
Bungalow No.1, Satellite Complex, Jodhpur Tekra,
Premchand Nagar Road, Ahmedabad- 380015
Ph no. : 91-79-26753501, 26732095/456
Fax: 91-79-26731903
NIF offers a wide ranging services to entrepreneurs who choose to initiate enterprise based on grassroots innovations;
- Business idea and technology
- Business planning guidance i.e. demand forecasting, risk assessment, operation plan, financial feasibility, strategic networking
- Capacity building for running business
- Dissemination support i.e. opportunity to showcase products in Trade fairs, Melas, Technology fest, other exhibitions
- Networking with strategic partners i.e. IITs, Agriculture universities for incubation assistance
- Financial Support for ;
- Prototype Development,
- Testing, Validation & Certification
- Market Research/ Test-Marketing
- Commercialization of Technology ( working capital, long-term capital)
- Dissemination/ Demonstration /Market Support (Promotion/Advertisement)
- IP protection
- Hiring professionals for incubation
Grassroots innovations by definition are need-based, simple, cost-effective and sustainable. The possibility of these technological solutions addressing local constraints in effective way is reasonably high, simply because solution originates from someone who has first-hand experience of the issue involved. The magnitude of demand also varies depending on how wide spread is the need, how important is the element of regional specificity and so on. This describes the challenges and opportunity both for grassroots innovations.
Successful examples of wealth creation based on grassroots innovation could be read on the link:
http://192.168.0.123/cranti_bd/success_stories
What is the process of technology transfer at NIF?
The process of technology transfer at NIF could be summarized in following steps;
- Identification of technology by entrepreneur
- Signing of Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
- Validation of technology (through live-demonstrations, test-reports, expert reports, field visit by entrepreneur, etc.)
- Freezing on the scope of licensing i.e. region, exclusivity, etc. through discussions
- Presentation by NIF on the business opportunity and valuation of the technology
- Negotiations
- Closing the deal, signing MoU for technology transfer
- Initiate technology transfer process by exchanging design documents, technical data, market data, financial data and visit of innovator to entrepreneur’s site
- Joint product development or planning for setting up enterprise
- Joint assessment for the closure of the agreement based on MoU
NIF undertakes market research by employing its own staff or outsources the task for determining the demand potential of any technology.
The overall comprehensive process followed for most of the cases are;
- Identification of application domains for the technology
- Determine market size for each application domain through secondary sources
- Conduct focus group discussions with the help of market/technology experts to assess risk factors and opportunity
- Conduct personal interviews with various market entities i.e. distributors, dealers, retailers, users for competing substitute technologies
- Based on all of the above inputs forecasting is done to project demand patterns
- With target price and cost details, cash flows are derived at to determine the value of the technology for a given scenario (set of assumptions)
- All above culminates into an Investment Opportunity Document (IOD)
This forms the base for any technology transfer decision. The method of valuation of the technology is cash-flow based.
NIF is open for any business model which suits to the entrepreneur and which ensures judicious and mutually agreed benefit sharing arrangement between all transacting parties.
Following business models are envisaged for commercial diffusion of the grassroots innovations and TK;
1). Technology licensing on the basis of the following grid
With/without value addition/incubation support:
Geographical | Single purpose | Multipurpose | |
Exclusive rights | |||
Non-exclusive rights |
2) Innovator wants to be an entrepreneur
Generally innovators do not prove to be good entrepreneurs but in some cases, this is the only choice given the attachment of the innovator to his/her creation
3) A hybrid of first and second categories
One may go for territorial licensing and find an entrepreneur for a specific or many regions. The technology can be licensed keeping certain regions reserved for the innovators or non-exclusive licensing can be done retaining the right of the innovator to manufacture the device himself/herself and license to others if possible.
4) Create a large number of micro enterprises
After buying the commercial rights of the technology from the innovators, one can license it to any third party micro entrepreneur at a nominal price.
5) Franchise the technology to a federation of self help groups
The rights can be assigned to federation of SHGs for scale neutral technologies and modest royalty may be collected and shared with the innovator and his/her community, nature and innovation fund
6) Pool best practices, generate new products and give risk capital to a third party enterprise.
The new products can be developed by pooling several best practices, licensed to third parties, which may or may not be supported by MVIF. Benefits may be shared with those whose knowledge /inputs have been pooled as well as other stakeholders who may have added value or supported the value chain.
7) Provide risk capital to a third party entrepreneur for setting up a new venture based on an innovation / TK.
Support from Micro Venture Innovation Fund can be extended to a licensee for manufacturing products based on a technological innovation or traditional knowledge.
8) Joint venture between innovator and entrepreneur. The MVIF may also participate as an equity or investment partner.
If the technology is under development, then entrepreneur takes up higher risk by investing in such technology, hence his/her technology acquisition cost would be lower than what entrepreneur could have acquired after product development. In other words, the entrepreneur can reduce his/her cost if opportunity is sensed in early stages.
The other advantage of early stage handshake would be that the entrepreneur could guide the development process as per his/her perception of market requirements. This would help him/her ensure development of a ‘win’ product. The second advantage would be crashing down the development life cycle due to the continuous push provided by his/her entrepreneurial drive.
In the below enclosed technology incubation cycle, there are eight licensing areas flagged where an entrepreneur could chip in to acquire the technology. These are indicated by L1 to L7. As one moves from L1 to L7, the cost of acquisition moves up while risk of acquisition goes down.
The Incubation Process:
The NIF and GIANs carry out following process of incubation
L1 – L7 are the various licensing opportunities during the incubation process.
NIF or GIAN do not offer any physical infrastructure at this moment. Therefore, the incubation support is more of knowledge and finance driven than the tangible one. In current scenario, NIF and GIANs are emphasizing on the networking with technological institutions i.e. IITs, Agriculture laboratories, CSIR laboratories (NIF has recently signed ana MoU with CSIR), pharmacy colleges so that incubation could be performed in their laboratories. However, there are plans that each GIAN will have its own commercial application laboratory for product development with minimum infrastructure for testing and development for few sectors to begin with.
Hence, one can be provided access to the facilities of the partnering institutions who have right expertise to incubate technologies.
Yes, one can avail financial support for technology commercialization from NIF.
NIF operates a dedicated fund called MVIF (Micro Venture Innovation Fund) of INR 400 lacs to support technical and commercial incubation of grassroots innovations and TK. This fund was established in October 2003 with the help of Small Industry Development Bank of India (SIDBI).
The financial support could be extended for the followings needs of an incubatee;
- Prototype Development,
- Testing, Validation & Certification
- Market Research/ Test-Marketing
- Commercialization of Technology ( working capital, long-term capital)
- Dissemination/ Demonstration /Market Support (Promotion/Advertisement)
- IP protection
- Hiring professionals for incubation
What is MVIF? What is the operational framework of NIF?
In his budget speech in 2002, then Finance Minister had announced his decision to establish a Micro Venture Innovation Fund (MVIF). The MVIF (INR 400 lacs) was finally instituted for ten years with the help of SIDBI in October 2003.
Objectives of the MVIF:
- Provide a means of finance for innovation and traditional knowledge-based micro-ventures, which are generally not entertained by any other program or schemes of Financial Institutions (FIs). One the other hands, Venture Capital Funds (VCFs) deals only in big ticket investment opportunities of organized sectors.
- Provide a means of finance for managing the technology development life cycle which includes Prototype Development, Technical Validations & Benchmarking, Field Trials, Market Research, Certification by Regulatory Authorities, Protection of Intellectual Property, Promotions and Dissemination and Commercialization.
- Offer innovative and flexible financing schemes which are tailor-made to the needs of grassroots’ entrepreneurs so as to enable them in minimizing the financial risk associated with their ventures.
The MVIF operates within the guidelines and the framework prepared by NIF under the guidance provided by NIF’s governing council and MVIF Incubation Committee. However the delivery functions like project appraisal, disbursement, monitoring & mentoring and recovery are being taken care by NIF and its regional arms e.g. Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Network (GIAN), GIAN Cells and other associates (collaborators) as per the decision making structure indicated in the flow chart below.
The operating structure of MVIF is three tiered;
What are the eligibility criteria for a project to be supported from MVIF?
For any innovation or enterprise to be eligible for support from MVIF shall have to be qualified as:
- Should be an ‘Accepted’ innovation by NIF, which means it should be an unaided, Green, Grassroots’ technological innovation or a traditional knowledge practice from a person having non-professional background with established ownership of knowledge, and
- The technology should have novelty in Form, Function or Feature or all of the above, and
- Should have practically workable/demonstrable benefits in either ways i.e. cost effectiveness, efficiency & effectiveness, drudgery reduction vis-� -vis existing solutions/products, or could have special advantage for marginalized sections of our society, and
- Should have foreseeable market demand and good commercial potential as per the assessment of NIF.
What shall be the fee or charge towards services extended to me?
There shall be no immediate service charge for technology commercialization except you may have to meet the cost of support extended in full or part. In many cases, the cost may also be supported by NIF as part of its investment in the enterprise.
In lieu of all the support or part of it, NIF may seek part of future profits with an objective to sustain its own operations. However for an entrepreneur, it would be a timely support at no immediate cost and sharing profits only when enterprise becomes profit-making.
However all decision shall be taken on case to case basis and NIF’s decision will be final.
What framework for benefits sharing is considered for technology commercialization?
The framework of profit sharing is based on the principles of equity. NIF encourages that both innovator and entrepreneur sit across and discuss the fine-prints for benefit sharing. NIF may be pleased to play the role of a facilitator.
The benefit sharing in principle should be decided on the parameters:
- Size of the market
- Valuation of the IP
- Contribution of the innovator in idea generation
- Stage of the development of a technology
- Value addition required by the entrepreneur in technical and commercial incubation
- Any other
However, NIF is propagating the concept of Prior Inform Consent (PIC), which is the initial document filled by any innovator (IP owner) who is registered with NIF. The document could be read at the link:
http://www.nifindia.org/benefit.htm
NIF or any of its sister organization may share the benefits depending upon their contribution in value chain.
The instrument of benefit sharing could be conventional ones i.e.
- Upfront payment (may be one-time or linked to phases)
- Royalty as a cut on sales or profit
- Time-based return
- Territorial distributorship/dealership
- Equity stake
Does NIF help in IP protection? How should one approach to seek IP protection?
Yes, NIF has an Intellectual Property Protection cell, which helps all innovators and entrepreneurs in managing IP.
IP Cell could be approached by email on info@nifindia.org or ipr@nifindia.org
Else, one can write to the address:
Intellectual Property Protection Cell
National Innovation Foundation (NIF)
Visit us at www.nifindia.org
Bungalow No.1, Satellite Complex, Jodhpur Tekra,
Premchand Nagar Road, Ahmedabad- 380015
Epabx: 91-079-26753501, Ph: 91-079-2673 2095/456
Fax: 91-079-26731903
