Wadhwani Foundation organizes a seminar on Promoting Innovation in MSMEs through PPP Prog in Delhi

DELHI, India - Feb. 19, 2014 - PRLog -- Wadhwani Foundation – an initiative of Dr. Romesh Wadhwani, a U.S. based philanthropist towards accelerating the country’s economic growth through large scale, high impact entrepreneurship and skill development programmes, today unveiled a study titled “Promoting Innovation through PPP - An assessment of SBIRI & BIPP Programmes”. The study was released jointly by Dr. T Ramasami, Honorable Secretary, Department of Science & Technology, GOI and Professor K. Vijay Raghavan, Honorable Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, GOI at a seminar held at The Claridges Hotel, New Delhi.

Over the past two decades, a plethora of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) programmes in technology and innovation development has emerged in India. However there is a lack of independent impact assessments of these programmes. This study by Wadhwani Foundation’s Policy Research Centre is an effort to review the implementation of PPP model in innovation, with a special focus on the Small Business Innovation Research Initiative (SBIRI) and Biotechnology Industry Partnership Programme (BIPP) of the Department of Biotechnology. The study also analyzed the contributions of the programme to knowledge creation & identify challenges in their implementation. The study offered a set of recommendations to help policy makers further improve and scale up the programmes to fully capture their potential.

Dr. T Ramasami, the Chief Guest of the seminar in his key note address hailed the move of Wadhwani Foundation’s Policy initiative for commissioning the study and its key outcomes. The findings of the study was presented by Dr Aradhna Aggarwal, Director Policy, Wadhwani Foundation, in the session chaired by Dr. K. Vijay Raghavan.

Speaking on various policy initiatives of Wadhwani Foundation in his opening remarks, Ajay Kela, President & CEO, Wadhwani Foundation said that “The Foundation’s Policy Research Centre aims to brings excellence in policy research providing research inputs for informed policy making with the objective to create a people-centered, high growth economic acceleration. The foundation has a dedicated team of specialists, currently focusing on three distinct programs - R&D and Innovations, SMEs & Entrepreneurship and Employment & Skills. The Foundation has also established a India-U.S. Policy Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a leading policy think-tank based in Washington DC and a parallel program at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), New Delhi.”

He further added “It is now widely believed that a thriving, innovative and entrepreneurship driven MSME sector is a pivotal element in the process of economic growth and job creation. We trust this study by our Policy Research Centre would open up deliberations thereby seizing opportunities and effectively overcome challenges in promoting innovations among MSME.”

The seminar brought together high profile panelist and delegates across the public and private domain including policy makers, government agencies, researchers, the business community and academics to discuss & deliberate on the study to promote innovation in MSME within PPP framework. Some of the key speakers & panelists were Shri. Ajay Shankar, Member Secretary, NMCC; Shri. Ashwani Gupta, Scientist G, DSIR; Ms. Susan K Finston, CEO, Amrita Pharmaceuticals; Dr. Purnima Sharma, CEO BCIL; Dr. P. Banerjee, Director, CSIR- NISTADS; Shri Samarendra Sahu, Additional Development Commissioner, Ministry of MSME; Dr. Krishna Kumar, ED, IL&FS; and Dr Rajiv Kumar, Senior Fellow - Center for Policy Research.

Wadhwani Foundation Policy Research Centre is part of Dr Romesh Wadhwani’s vision for a large-scale, high-impact social change through economic acceleration. The primary mission of the Foundation is to leverage India’s growing human potential by combining best-in-class workforce development programs, educational technology, inclusivity and policy research.

The Wadhwani Foundation has also established a India-U.S. Policy Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a leading policy think-tank based in Washington DC and a parallel program at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), New Delhi.

About Wadhwani Foundation

The Wadhwani Foundation was founded in 2003 by Dr. Romesh Wadhwani, a U.S. based philanthropist with passion towards economic growth. Dr. Wadhwani envisioned large-scale, high-impact social change through economic acceleration as the primary mission of the Foundation by focusing on leveraging India’s growing human potential. It is this passion which led to the formation of the Foundation’s first Entrepreneurship Initiative in 2003. Subsequently, Dr. Wadhwani and his committed colleagues have fine-tuned the theory of driving social impact through economic acceleration and the Foundation has expanded into U.S. and emerging economies with plans to combine best-in-class workforce development programs and educational technology through:

•Creating niche & high impact initiatives, every two years

•Catalyzing & demonstrating scale and sustainability for wholesome, sustainable impact on economic development

•Engaging government resources & market forces to scale, sustain and create an eco-system for larger participation

The Wadhwani Foundation demonstrates effectiveness of long-term, pro-bono investments in human potential and the demographic dividend. It principally works through partnerships with like-minded individuals, organizations, corporations and governments.

For more details visit: http://wadhwani-foundation.org/