The central government has decided to increase the number of technology business incubators and entrepreneurship parks across the country in a bid to promote the spirit of entrepreneurship in the country. 34 at present, the government aims to increase the number of incubators and entrepreneurship parks to 100 over the next three years. |
Speaking in the context for the need to file more patents and develop new products, V S Ramamurthy, secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, said that while the number of patents filed by Indian companies or centres overall are considerably lower that those of other countries, it is even lower as far as design-related patents are concerned. |
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"The situation is not too promising in other sectors, but as far as design patents are concerned, the number is even lower. The government has decided to increase the number of incubators and entrepreneurship parks to 100 over the next three years," Ramamurthy told Business Standard on Tuesday. |
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He was in the city for a function to inaugurate the National Design Business Incubator (NDBI), an initiative of Ahmedabad based National Institute of Design (NID) and the Department of Science and Technology. |
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Ramamurthy said that the department, through the National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), supports 17 incubators and 17 entrepreneurship parks across the country. |
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Commenting on increased competition among countries under the new WTO framework, Ramamurthy said that while the new scenario poses several challenges, it also opens windows of opportunities for the Indian industry, especially entrepreneurs. |
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"So far, we have been concentrating on the development of knowledge, but there is a need for a thrust in the lab-to-market approach. Design and knowledge have a greater role to play in this context," he said. |
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The NSTEDB was established by the government in 1982 as an institutional mechanism to promote gainful self-employment in the country and to link idle manpower with the underutilised institutional credit facilities. |
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Major objectives of the NSTEDB include promoting growth of a three-tier structure at the district, state and central levels for providing integrated assistance to entrepreneurs, to act as a technical consultancy organisation of the government for promotion of entrepreneurship and gainful self-employment, providing information on self-employment avenues and schemes to persons, to organise employment camps in academic institutions and promote awareness on entrepreneurship. |
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NSTEDB also promotes national and regional institutions for training in entrepreneurship and management skills. |
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