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Indian research centres are now aggressively looking to connect with investors, entrepreneurs, policy makers and stakeholders with innovators to facilitate mutual learning and collaboration. Considerable attention is given to the innovation of high tech relevance for social applications.
The key objective is to create a wider awareness about emerging inclusive innovation ecosystem including bio-enterprises and green innovations. In this regard, research centres see a need to show young college and school students a wide range of innovations and facilitate their interactions with innovators so that they also aspire to be creative, innovative and empathetic in addressing unmet social needs.
In order to accelerate value chain development, research centres like Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP), Honey Bee Network, SRISTI, GIAN & NIF are keen to connect with investors, entrepreneurs, policy makers and stakeholders with innovators to identify the scope for strengthening the inclusive innovation ecosystem. The spotlight is on for the rapidly evolving, new technologies that can potentially define the future of India to increase public dialogues with the innovation community to inspire the next generation of innovators and problem solvers.
At the recently concluded People’s Festival of Innovation which is first-of-its-kind in India, co-organized by C-CAMP chalked out a plan on how to leverage upon the public engagement in innovation. It envisaged needs in healthcare, communicable & non-communicable diseases, animal health, natural resource management and environment protection.
India International Centre along with organizing partners CCAMP, Bangaluru and GIAN, Ahmedabad, an integral part of Honey Bee Network, brought together At least 50 high-tech bio entrepreneurs and 50 grassroots innovators displayed their innovations where prototype of devices and products.
According to Dr. Taslimarif Saiyed, CEO, C-CAMP, the convergence of deep tech innovations and grassroots innovations is what makes this festival unique. While the former gives a more global perspective, grassroots innovations evoke people, more immediate in time and space. This festival is facilitating dialogue between the two.
Prof. Gupta, founder Honey Bee Network, SRISTI, GIAN & NIF said that with the initiative we have innovation. It can open numerous doors to opportunities which the innovators may not otherwise be able to access. This will also help in bringing together the social capital, ethical capital and intellectual capital that our society has.
To this end, there will be a plan to chalk out on how to leverage upon the public engagement sparked off by this People’s Festival of Innovations which will be taken up, he said.
The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) has helped over 5,000 innovators. But this is the first time that this convergence between deep tech and grassroots innovations has happened. Generally, these are put into separate silos and their amalgamation or confluence does not happen, noted Dr. Renu Swarup, former secretary, Department of Biotechnology, Government of India.
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