Empowered Technology Group (ETG)

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.

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

1. Use-case and operational scenario identification with the Force
2. Field technology showcase and trials of Indian technologies for enhancing field capabilities, situational awareness, communication, and training
3. Evaluation support for procurement of technologies and equipment
4. 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

1. Use-case and operational scenario identification with the Force at operational sites (Border locations)
2. Field technology showcase and trials of Indian technologies for enhancing border surveillance, operational communication, body armours, personnel liveability, and training
3. Requirement and evaluation support for procurement of technologies
4. 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.