visitor


Date: 20th June 2009
   
Visitor: Dr. Vijay Kelkar, Chairman, 13th Finance Commission & Member, Governing Board, NIF
   
Details: Dr. Vijay Kelkar on his maiden visit to NIF met and interacted with the staff. NIF members gave him a presentation and an update of all the activities undertaken by the organisation. Specific problems faced were also discussed and his suggestions sought. On this occasion, a couple of innovators were also present.
   
Date: 27th May 2009
   
Visitor: Dr. R. A. Mashelkar CSIR Bhatnagar Fellow, National Chemical Laboratory; President, Global Research Alliance; Former DG, CSIR, Govt. of India; Chairperson, NIF
   
Details: Dr. R. A. Mashelkar on his second visit to NIF met and interacted with the staff. He was given a presentation on the status of all the work undertaken at NIF through its various departments. Dr Mashelkar was particularly impressed with the positive reports of many of the technologies presented before him. He specifically mentioned that strategies will have to be formulated to take these validated technologies to the next level so that they can be converted into viable products. He mentioned that NIF was at the feeder end and has taken the first few steps in a journey of a thousand kilometers. The technologies should be passed on to other players with due rights, credits and acknowledgment. He suggested to involve more players in the innovation value chain to reduce the cost of development. He also discussed linking up of NIF with different public institutions for possible value addition, dissemination and business development. Finally he congratulated the team for the dedication with which they work for the people from the grassroots.
   
Date: 10 April 2009
   
Visitor: Dr Sameer K Brahmachari, Director General, CSIR
   
Details: Dr Brahmachari visited NIF briefly and interacted with the staff. He commended the work done by the organisation and mentioned that policy intervention and strategic business planning is very essential to scale up the GRIs. Also that the growth should not be measured in the number of IPRs but in the numbers of closures generated. Sharing his vision, he mentioned that success can only be said to have achieved when we are able to help 100 million Indians annually. He also suggested to build a sustainable model so that such an intervention based on the GRIs and TK can be executed for the benefit of the society at large.
   
Date: 27 November 2008
   
Visitor: Prof. Eric Von Hippel, Professor and Head of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group at the MIT Sloan School of Management
   
Details: Prof. Eric Von Hippel, Professor and Head of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group at the MIT Sloan School of Management visited NIF on 27 November 2008. He was briefed about the network activities and organization through a presentation. It was a very unique and probably once in lifetime opportunity for the staff to interact face to face with such an eminent personality in the field of innovations. He was very fascinated about the innovation on low cost sanitary napkin making machine and other low cost technologies. He also visited field sites where GIAN West has operationalised the low cost windmills.
   
Date: 14th October 2008
 
Visitor: Shri R Gopalakrishnan, Executive Director, Tata Sons and Member, Governing Council, NIF
   
Details: Shri Gopalakrishnan, who was visiting NIF for the first time, interacted with the staff and discussed strategies for commercialization of the innovations and traditional knowledge practices documented at NIF. Shri Gopalakrishnan also provided leads to possible linkages to be explored and followed. He applauded the work done by the NIF team and conveyed his good wishes.
   
   
Date : 25th September 2008
   
Visitor: Dr T Ramasami, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India andMember, Governing Council, NIF
   
Details: Dr Ramasami on his maiden visit to NIF met and interacted with the staff. He was updated about the latest developments invarious departments of NIF. The team at NIF also showed him a presentation on the promising technologies from the engineering,agriculture and herbal fields shortlisted for the 5th round awards. Dr Ramasami appreciated the efforts of the small team at NIF and conveyed his good wishes for the future.
   
Date : 28th March 2008
   
Visitor: Dr. R. A. Mashelkar CSIR Bhatnagar Fellow President, Global Research Alliance,Former DG, CSIR, Govt. of India Chairperson, NIF,National Chemical Laboratory
   
Details: Dr. R. A. Mashelkar on his maiden visit to NIF met and interacted with the staff. He was updated about the latest developments invarious departments of NIF. The team at NIF also showed him a presentation on the promising technologies from the engineering,agriculture and herbal fields shortlisted for the 5th round awards. Dr. R. A. Mashelkar appreciated the efforts of the small team at NIF and conveyed his good wishes for the future.
   
Date : 8th February'2008
   
Visitor: Ms Ranjana Kumar,Vigilance Commissioner & GC member of NIF
   
Details : How to mobilise energy/power related innovations - Ms Ranjana Kumar suggested a meeting with NTPC chairman Sh Sankarlingam with a presentation on 5-6 good energy sector innovations. The focus can be on R&D on these or possible application of these to be suggested by NTPC.


She also suggested similar presentation before ONGC chairman for security alarm systems and similar innovations.
To promote herbal drinks in railways, she suggested to get a certification for the drinks from CFTRI and then she can speak with higher authorities. Similarly she was very helpful in suggesting various channels of campaign through SBI ATMs and advertisements on selected railway stations.
 

   
Date : 25th August'2007
   
Visitor: Mr. Atul Mittal, Manager Business Development
and Mr. Ashutosh Kumar Sinha, Manager Business Development British Petroleum (BP Energy India Pvt. Ltd.)
   
Details : They looked the potential of energy based products/innovations in NIF database. Different kinds of Stoves were shown to them and some brief about different turbines were discussed.They are interested to take up ome of the stoves and irrigation based innovations e.g. hand pump, rain gun etc.
 

   
Date: 24th March, 2007
   
Visitor: Dr. Vinod Agarwal, President and CEO of
SemIndia
   
Details: He took interest in many technologies which were showed to him at NIF. Particularly he took interest in mobile phone operated switch for which he immediately placed an order of 10 pieces. Dr. Agarwal stressed the need of promoting grassroots innovations and assured NIF all the help which he can.

   
 
Date: 21st March, 2006
   
Visitor: Michigan University Delegation
   
Details: A delegation from Michigan University, visited National Innovation Foundation on 21st March, 2006.They were given a presentation on structural framework and functions of National Innovation Foundation,GIAN, SRISTI and Honey Bee Network along with video clippings of Innovations and their showcasing by Discovery Channel, NDTV and other media channels.

They were also taken to some of the innovators like Mansukhbhai Prajapati,Mansukhbhai Patel, Yagnesh Mehta, Arvindbhai patel, Prem Singh Saini and entrepreneur A.H Ahuja to show them innovations in situ and also the latest model ready for market.
They were given the feel of the potential these innovations have along with the socio-economic condition of the innovators.
   
 
Visitor: Prof. Michel Gordon, Professor for innovation study at Michigan University
   
Details: Focus of the meeting was to develop a partnership at various levels utilizing the resources from both the ends for the larger benefit of stakeholders. The Student group of Michigan felt very excited, showed keen interest in the activities of national Innovation Foundation.

It is considered very significant from the point of building institutional relationship for the larger benefit of the two sides.Other members present during the meeting were Gregg A. Hammerman, Nicole M Thomas, Jessica and Swapna (All student of Business School, Michigan University.) and NIF staff members.They also visited Viramgam on 24th March 2006 to meet innovator turned entrepreneur Shri Maksukhbhai Patel (Cotton Striper Machine).