Empowered Technology Group (ETG)
What is ETG?
The Empowered Technology Group (ETG) was constituted by the Cabinet as an institutionalised structure to proactively lay down, coordinate, and oversee national-level policies relating to procurement and induction, and research and development in technologies that require large outlays in resources both financial and human and to render sound and timely advice for determining direction and trajectory of Government's R&D and Technology Development Programmes.
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The Empowered Technology Group (ETG) was constituted by the Cabinet as an institutionalised structure to proactively lay down, coordinate, and oversee national-level policies relating to procurement and induction, and research and development in technologies that require large outlays in resources both financial and human and to render sound and timely advice for determining direction and trajectory of Government's R&D and Technology Development Programmes.
Empowered Technology Group (ETG) aims to proactively lay down, coordinate, and oversee national-level policies relating to
- Procurement and Induction of technologies.
- Research and Development (R&D) in technologies that require large outlays in resources, both financial and human.
- Render sound and timely advice for determining direction and trajectory of Government's R&D and Technology Development Programmes.
DownloadOrder for Preparation/Submission of Notes for Cabinet/Cabinet Committees Consultation with ETG
DownloadOrder for Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for the Empowered Technology Group (ETG)
Policy Guidance
- Guide policy formulation in the development and use of technologies that emanate from multiple disciplines of science and engineering.
- Develop a long-term technology roadmap and lay down a plan for indigenization of key technologies.
- Ensure that each Department/Ministry has a 'Technology officer' who is mandated to monitor technology development in the Department/Ministry, develop prospective plans on the technology requirements and plan adaptation of globally available new and emerging technologies.
- Review technology adaptation of at least one Department during each of its meetings.
- Develop a strategy to influence the international discourse on key technologies and for furthering India's interests in those domains.
- Render advice to promote the private sector and global investment in R&D, education, and skills related to emerging technologies.
- Render advice on policy to optimize the use of all capabilities developed or procured by India through sharing with other public or private sector players, including recoupment of federal investments through sharing charges.
- Review and recommend technologies and technology products that are obsolete and do not need to be procured by the Central or State/ Union Territory Governments and various entities under them.
Policy Guidance
- Guide policy formulation in the development and use of technologies that emanate from multiple disciplines of science and engineering.
- Develop a long-term technology roadmap and lay down a plan for indigenization of key technologies.
- Ensure that each Department/Ministry has a 'Technology officer' who is mandated to monitor technology development in the Department/Ministry, develop prospective plans on the technology requirements and plan adaptation of globally available new and emerging technologies.
- Review technology adaptation of at least one Department during each of its meetings.
- Develop a strategy to influence the international discourse on key technologies and for furthering India's interests in those domains.
- Render advice to promote the private sector and global investment in R&D, education, and skills related to emerging technologies.
- Render advice on policy to optimize the use of all capabilities developed or procured by India through sharing with other public or private sector players, including recoupment of federal investments through sharing charges.
- Review and recommend technologies and technology products that are obsolete and do not need to be procured by the Central or State/ Union Territory Governments and various entities under them.
Review of EFC/Cabinet Notes
- Proposals requesting funds more than Rs. 500 Crore for procurement of technology/technology products will be placed before ETG prior to submission to the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC)/Cabinet.
- Ensure non-duplication and overlap in the procurement of technology products, technologies, services, or facilities across Departments by accounting for preferential procurement (given to indigenous vendors) in accordance with extant rules/orders/instructions.
- Develop a Digital Catalogue of all technologies and products developed by all Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and R&D Organizations including Transfer of Technology from foreign countries. The Digital Catalogue can be accessed, here
E-Market Place
- E-marketplace for technologies/ technology products developed by all Public Sector Undertakings and R&D Organizations for promoting ease of procurement by Departments from each other as well as by the private sector.
Review of EFC/Cabinet Notes
- Proposals requesting funds more than Rs. 500 Crore for procurement of technology/technology products will be placed before ETG prior to submission to the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC)/Cabinet.
- Ensure non-duplication and overlap in the procurement of technology products, technologies, services, or facilities across Departments by accounting for preferential procurement (given to indigenous vendors) in accordance with extant rules/orders/instructions.
- Develop a Digital Catalogue of all technologies and products developed by all Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and R&D Organizations including Transfer of Technology from foreign countries. The Digital Catalogue can be accessed, here
E-Market Place
- E-marketplace for technologies/ technology products developed by all Public Sector Undertakings and R&D Organizations for promoting ease of procurement by Departments from each other as well as by the private sector.
Review of EFC/Cabinet Notes
- Project proposals requesting funds more than Rs. 500 Crore relating to R&D to be placed before ETG prior to submission to the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC)/Cabinet.
- ETG will ensure that proposals follow the latest global best practices, there is synergy and no duplication in proposals among various Departments and there is justification for research to be publicly funded. Here is an exit strategy subsequent to completion of research, i.e., commercialization through technology transfer to the industry.
- Develop an innovation index in line with the GII or any such acceptable global standard to objectively measure in-house innovation in each Department/Ministry through a fair and transparent process of evaluation.
Standards and Capacity Building
- Develop standards, norms and best practices for R&D proposals.
- Workshops to train senior decision makers on the standards, norms and best practices for R&D proposals.
Review of EFC/Cabinet Notes
- Project proposals requesting funds more than Rs. 500 Crore relating to R&D to be placed before ETG prior to submission to the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC)/Cabinet.
- ETG will ensure that proposals follow the latest global best practices, there is synergy and no duplication in proposals among various Departments and there is justification for research to be publicly funded. Here is an exit strategy subsequent to completion of research, i.e., commercialization through technology transfer to the industry.
- Develop an innovation index in line with the GII or any such acceptable global standard to objectively measure in-house innovation in each Department/Ministry through a fair and transparent process of evaluation.
Standards and Capacity Building
- Develop standards, norms and best practices for R&D proposals.
- Workshops to train senior decision makers on the standards, norms and best practices for R&D proposals.
Our Stakeholders
Scientific and line ministries
State governments
R&D labs
CPSEs
Industry
Our Stakeholders
Scientific and line ministries
State governments
R&D labs
CPSEs
Industry
Policy guidance
The Office of PSA has been engaging with several ministries and departments to improve the policy landscape, to make it more inclusive and open. In this process, the office has consulted respective stakeholder groups for devising policy reforms for promoting innovation and tech transfer in the space sector, responsive regulatory processes in remote sensing, easy access to geospatial data, and others.
Concerned Ministry(ies)/Department(s): Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying
The Office of PSA invited a Fellow with international experience to assist the DAHD to set up a blueprint for the National Digital Livestock Mission. This collaboration between DAHD and the Office of PSA resulted in a reimagined architecture for India’s livestock management. The NDLM is currently being rolled out by the department.
Concerned Ministry(ies)/Department(s): Ministry of Textile
PSA office has helped the Ministry of Textiles in drafting the cabinet note for the National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM).
PSA office is now supporting the ministry in the selection of projects being undertaken as part of NTTM.
PSA Office is also supporting the mission by identifying opportunities in R&D, and commercialisation with users in Armed Services, Agriculture, and some industrial sectors.
Concerned Ministry(ies)/Department(s): Department of Space
The Office of PSA supported the design of the Indian space reforms with analytical studies, stakeholder consultation, and identification of reform pathways. These reforms were conceptualized and rolled out in 2020. Already, Indian startups and private companies have taken big strides in expanding and improving space-based services, including launching their satellites.
Concerned Ministry(ies)/Department(s): Department of Space
The ETG ensured that the Remote Sensing policy being developed by the Department of Space was in line with the Geospatial policy issued by the Department of Science and Technology.
Also, provisions for a responsive regulatory mechanism with strict timelines for processing applications and granting authorisation have been incorporated.
Concerned Ministry(ies)/Department(s): Department of Space
ETG guided the policy to be such that the cost of technology transfer is evaluated considering societal and economic benefits of the technology, the financial benefits to ISRO and that the costing of Intellectual Property (IP) does not delay the technology transfer process.
Concerned Ministry(ies)/Department(s): Department of Science & Technology
Based on the ETG recommendations, the Geospatial policy will be an enabler for economic activities using geospatial data. The policy has ensured minimal requirement of approvals since much of the geospatial data is currently easily available worldwide. Geospatial data and images are now available for all government ministries and to Indian-origin business entities at a fair price.
Procurement support
ETG secretariat is engaging with Technology Officers to support the adoption of technology in ministry’s functioning and service delivery. ETG secretariat has received a list of about 180+ problem statements across 35 departments and ministries. The secretariat has identified several potential partners for provisioning solutions to the line ministries/departments.
Concerned Ministry(ies)/Department(s): Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
Procurement of innovative products that do not have competitors in the market becomes difficult in a tender-based regime. In many cases, products directly meeting a stated need cannot be procured due to this limitation. An experimental regime for such situations has been devised in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, starting with the Smart Cities Mission. This system comprises a two-sided innovation discovery marketplace, CiX, and procurement guidelines called SmartProcure. The Smart Cities will be able to scope out potential technologies on the CiX platform, develop solutions collaboratively with startup companies, and provide orders through the SmartProcure guidelines.
The AGNIi mission will be assisting the Smart Cities Mission to support the cities in the uptake of the SmartProcure system, including designing some early projects.
Concerned Ministry(ies)/Department(s): Ministry of Power
ETG has been assisting various departments/ministries in developing, adapting, and procuring technologies, and related policies, for improved public services. As a part of technology intervention, SJVN Limited a Mini Ratna: Category-I and Schedule – ‘A’ Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE) under the administrative control of the Ministry of Power, Govt. of India had outlined a few requirements in domain of Solar Energy.
As a result of the continuous engagement of ETG, AGNIi and SJVN a demo opportunity has been provided to Inoviea (a start-up providing waterless solar panel self-cleaning solution) at Charanka Solar Park on a 5.6 MW Solar Plant.
Concerned Ministry(ies)/Department(s): National Disaster Response Force
Extensive engagement is underway for upgrading Disaster response via Indian emerging technology, including
- Use-case and operational scenario identification with the Force
- Field technology showcase and trials of Indian technologies for enhancing field capabilities, situational awareness, communication, and training
- Evaluation support for procurement of technologies and equipment
- Publication of report on “Technology and Innovation in Disaster Response”
Concerned Ministry(ies)/Department(s): Border Security Force, Ministry of Home Affairs
Extensive engagement is underway for upgrading Border Security via Indian emerging technology, including
- Use-case and operational scenario identification with the Force at operational sites (Border locations)
- Field technology showcase and trials of Indian technologies for enhancing border surveillance, operational communication, body armours, personnel liveability, and training
- Requirement and evaluation support for procurement of technologies
- Publication of reports on “Smart Borders” and “Countering Rogue Drones”
ETG has collaborated with GeM with an aim to promote easy and fast procurement of indigenously developed technologies churned out of the Public R&D ecosystem. In this regard, a training session for vendors was organized and a complete overview of the platform; comprising the entire process of vendor onboarding, buyer placing tender requests, participating in the bid, fulfilling the bids, and others, were provided to the vendors.
As per the latest dataset, out of 40 vendors who had participated in the training workshop, 33 have registered themselves on the platform and 21 products have been uploaded on the portal. A process of continuous interaction is in place for the vendors and an effort is made to address the problems encountered by the vendors while onboarding onto the GeM Platform.
Structure of Technology Advisory Group (TAG)
ETG is being supported by the Technology Advisory Group (TAG) comprising 8 members from Academia and 9 members from Industry and other important sectors.
Director
National Institute of Advanced Studies
Former Secretary
Department of Biotechnology, Government of India
Director
IIT Madras
Professor
IISc. Bangalore
Director
CSIR-NCL
Group Vice-Chancellor
Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani
Former Vice Chancellor
Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai
Head, Koita Center for Digital Health at Ashoka
Dean, BioSciences and Health Research, Trivedi School of Biosciences, Ashoka University
Distinguished Scientist and Director
NFTDC, Hyderabad
Distinguished Fellow
NITI Aayog and
Ex-President
NASSCOM
Former MD & CEO Ashok Leyland Ltd. and JCB India Ltd
Former Chairman BoG IISER,Bhopal; Chairman,CII Green Mobility Council;
Chairman National Board for Quality Promotion; Chairman, CII National Forum for Industry-Academia Partnership
Executive Director R&D
Hindustan Unilever Limited and Co-Chairman of the Science and Technology Committee of FICCI
Chairman
Avaada RJHN Private Ltd.
CTO, EVP,
AM Green (Group Company of GreenCo.)
Co-Chair, Centre for Digital Public Infrastructure (CDPI)
Co-Founder FIDE; CTO- EkStep Foundation
Independent Director- Kinetic Communications Ltd
UNO MINDA Group, Bimetal Bearings Ltd, Pinnacle Industries Ltd; Director-Pune Knowledge Cluster Foundation
Ex- Head, Quantum Computing Incubation
Tata Consultancy Services
Chairman
Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Limited
CTO
Tata Consulting Engineers Limited