Context: The draft National Deep Tech Startup Policy released by the office of the principal scientific advisor to the government, has sought comments from the public.
Draft National Deep Tech Startup Policy (NDTSP)
Objective
- To “ensure India’s position in the global deep tech value chain,” in areas such as semiconductors, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and space technology.
- To bolster R&D in deep tech start-ups working on fundamental and technical problems.
- To find approaches to provide financing to deep tech start-ups at critical moments.
- To significantly strengthen India’s capabilities and enhance global competitiveness.
- To stimulate innovation, spur economic growth, and promote societal development through the effective utilization of deep tech research-driven innovations.
- To solidify India’s financial stability and stimulating the transition towards a knowledge-centric economy, consequently augmenting India’s overall productivity.
- To stimulate ripple effects throughout the economy and lay the groundwork for deep tech industry creation.
- To address the challenges confronting deep tech startups through definitive policy interventions to create a conducive ecosystem.
- To simplify the intellectual property regime for deep tech start-ups, ease regulatory requirements, and propose measures to promote these firms.
Provisions of Draft NDTSP
- It proposes an organisation “The Centre for Deep Tech Translation” to assess Indian research (publications, patents, etc.) for potential commercialisation.
- It suggests creation of Export Promotion Board to ease barriers of entry for Indian deep tech start-ups into foreign markets.
- It promotes setting up an Open Science and Data Sharing Platform for encouraging collaboration and knowledge sharing among the stakeholders to promote deep tech innovations.
- It suggests establishing a Single Window Platform that enables a Unified IP Framework, customised for deep tech startups.
- It suggests creating a thematically focused Fund of Funds (FoF) dedicated to deep tech investments;
- It suggests the use of Technology Impact Bonds to invite investment from the public and philanthropic entities.
- The policy insists on expanding skill enhancement grants, and incentivising venture capitalists to invest in female-led deep tech startups.
Priorities Under The Policy
| Priority- 01 | R&D innovation | Strengthen the Research and Innovation ecosystem leading to scientific breakthroughs and technological advancements, boosting India’s knowledge-driven economy. |
| Priority- 02 | Intellectual property | Bolster the Indian Intellectual Property regime and make it competitive for international deep tech startups to establish and operate their entities in India. |
| Priority- 03 | Funding | Facilitate access to diverse sources of capital via specialized funding programs, increased venture capital investments and tailored government financial support avenues. |
| Priority- 04 | Infrastructure | Enable Infrastructure and resource sharing with academic institutions, R&D laboratories, and large manufacturing corporations for faster product development. |
| Priority- 05 | Standards and certification | Create a conducive regulatory environment for innovation to thrive by using streamlined frameworks, laying out clear regulatory requirements and introducing exemptions and incentives. |
| Priority- 06 | Diversity and capacity building | Attract and retain the finest human capital for sustained superior deep tech innovations keeping equity, diversity and inclusion as the core tenets. |
| Priority- 07 | Adoption | Promote public and private adoption of indigenous deep technologies through favourable procurement rules and innovative adoption mechanisms and tap into global markets for Indian deep tech products. |
| Priority- 08 | Policy interlinkages | Interlink with the priorities of existing national policies and missions to ensure India’s position in the global deep tech value chain. |
| Priority- 09 | Sustenance | Facilitate the sustenance of deep tech startups by helping them overcome the Valley of Death (VoD) phase through targeted solutions addressing funding limitations, resource constraints, limited business knowledge, and risk management. |
Deep Technology
Deep Technology refers to innovations founded on advanced scientific and technological breakthroughs. It is a classification of organization, or more typically startup company, with the expressed objective of providing technology solutions based on substantial scientific or engineering challenges.
Due to their disruptive nature, they have the potential to solve India’s most pressing societal issues.
According to the BCG research, the overall investment in deep tech starting from 2015 increased by 300% to more than $60 million in 2020.
Components of Deep Tech
Characteristics
- Deep tech typically needs large investments over a longer term and profound research of a certain problem.
- The commercial success of this type of project will also take more time to achieve due to the disruptive technologies it creates, unlike in general-tech and high-tech scopes.
Some Examples Of Deep Tech
| BorderPass (Malaysia) | An intelligent management project that leverages biometric data to enable automated and secure solutions for airports (check-in, boarding, etc.). |
| ViSenze (Singapore) | Smart product discovery platform that empowers visual search and image processing tools for online retailers across diverse fields. |
| Beit (EU) | It is developing and implementing novel quantum algorithms to create versatile and powerful software solutions for quantum computers. |
| Helix (US) | It enables healthcare organizations to accelerate the integration of genomic data into patient care and public health decision-making. |
| Fundbox (US) | An AI-powered financial platform for small and mid-sized businesses that offer fast and intuitive access to business credit up to $150,000. |
Prime Minister’s Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC)
The PM-STIAC is an overarching Council that facilitates the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India (O/o PSA) to assess the status in specific science and technology domains, comprehend challenges in hand, formulate specific interventions, develop a futuristic roadmap and advise the Prime Minister accordingly.
O/o PSA also oversees the implementation of such interventions by concerned S&T Departments, agencies and other government Ministries.
Missions under PM-STIAC
- Natural Language Translation Mission
- Quantum Frontier Mission
- Artificial Intelligence Mission
- National Biodiversity Mission
- Electric Vehicles Mission
- Bioscience for Human Health Mission
- Waste To Wealth Mission
- Deep Ocean Exploration Mission
- AGNIi (Accelerating Growth of New India’s Innovations) Mission
