Title: South-South Cooperation for Technology Transfer and Development of Small and Medium Enterprises: VIT Experiences
1South-South Cooperation for Technology Transfer
and Development of Small and Medium Enterprises
VIT Experiences
- Prof. D.P. Kothari, FNAE, FNASc
- Vice Chancellor, VIT University, Vellore
- Former Director (I/C), IIT DELHI
- Former Principal, VRCE, Nagpur
2VIT A brief history
- Founded in 1984 as Vellore Engineering College
(VEC), a Private college affiliated to the
University of Madras, with three undergraduate
programmes and an intake of 180 students - Blossomed into a Postgraduate institution in 1995
- Conferred Deemed University status by Ministry of
Human Resource Development, Government of India
and renamed Vellore Institute of Technology in
2001 - Renamed as VIT University (u/s 3 of UGC Act) in
2006
3Accreditation
- Accredited by the National Board of Accreditation
(NBA) in 1998 and 1999 with highest grade (A
Grade) - First educational institution in India to be
awarded ISO 9002 Certificate by the Det Norske
Veritas (DNV) of the Netherlands in 1999 - Accredited by the National Assessment and
Accreditation Council (NAAC) in 2003
4Accreditation
- Programmes of VIT accredited by the Institution
of Engineers, India IEI - First educational institution in India accredited
by the Institution for Engineering and Technology
(IET) and Energy Institute (EI) both from UK in
2005 with our degrees equivalent to theirs up to
2010 - Tata Consultancy Services accredited VIT as an
A-Grade Institution
5Recognition
- India Today-ACNielsen-ORG-MARG Survey
- All India 14th rank in 2007
- All India 10th rank in 2008
- Both in 2007 and 2008, VIT University was ranked
first among the Private Engineering Institutions
in the country -
6Introduction
- UN created special unit for SSC in late 1970s
academic research and voluntary cooperative
efforts between developing countries to promote
S-S trade and investment - Refers cooperative activities between developing
countries - Developing technologies, services and trading
relationships - Micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
engine of economic growth and for promoting
equitable development
7Introduction
- SSC contributes to economic advances in Africa,
Southern Asia and South America - SSC lacs the overtones of cultural, political and
economic hegemony - Lot of differences within the group of developing
countries think of cooperation among the
developing countries giving rise to the concept
of SSC
8SSC for Technology Transfer
- Authors association with SAARC countries
- Personally visited SAARC countries - development
of local engineering colleges like BUET in Dhaka,
Kathmandu Engineering College, Nepal and
University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore,
Pakistan - VIT University also has mutually beneficial
working association with several academic
institutions / universities in SAARC countries
9SSC for Technology Transfer
- Necessity of Technology Transfer
- Definite goal converting the laboratory
information into a commercial product - Sharing of technical information
- SSC to address wide range of issues
- Need for concerted action natural disasters
10SSC for Technology Transfer
- Role of UN
- Promote SSC policy support and capacity
building - FAO, UNIDO, UNDP and WHO proper south-south
policies and activities
11SSC for Technology Transfer
- Bandung Conference in 1955 pioneering major
south-south conference of developing countries - Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the Group of 77
(Doha, 2005) - Working Group on Technical Cooperation among
Developing Countries (TCDC) created in 1972 by
UN General Assembly - SAARC formed in 1985
- ASEAN in 1967
- stepping stone towards bringing nations into a
framework of cooperation - Bridge the economic gap between developed and
developing countries
12SSC for Technology Transfer
- VIT Universitys contribution to the SAARC
countries - Creation of knowledge hubs in the form of human
resource and opening up the - avenues for SSC for exchange of technology
- Separate International Office functioning since
2002 - Admitted students from various countries abroad
- MoU with SINO-INDIA Education and Technology
Alliance - Around 400 Chinese students to take education in
disciplines like computer and management
13SSC for Technology Transfer
- Role of the Centre for Disaster Mitigation
Management (CDMM) -
- Established on 9th January 2006 by VIT
University -
- Quarterly e-Newsletter on Natural Disaster
Development the first of its kind in Asia, - with an international circulation of 6000,
published under the aegis of Centre for Non- - Aligned and other Developing Countries
- First Institution in India to produce
Self-Education CD-ROMS on Earthquakes, - Cyclones, Landslides and Lightning
- Major contribution to Planning Commission in
drafting of Chapter on Disaster - Management for the XI Five Year Plan
- Major contribution to NDMA Team for Drafting of
National Guidelines - on Earthquakes and Landslides
- CDMM is the only Centre in India to have so far
contributed papers to every issue of - National Journal on Disasters and Development
14SSC for Technology Transfer
- CDMM participated in International Roundtable
meeting on Lighting Protection - for Non-Aligned Nations in Sri Lanka in 2007
SSC information exchange discussed - CDMM has authored Peer-Reviewed Book on
Retrofitting of Structure- - Foundation Systems
- CDMM is among the ten institutions in India to
be awarded a project by - Prevention Consortium of Geneva
- conducted Roundtable meeting on landslides in
2006 to discuss recurrent - problems on landslides in SAARC countries
Vellore Declaration had been - brought out
- conducted International Roundtable meeting in
2007 for Non-Aligned and other - developing countries to discuss about the
natural disasters among these countries - Vellore Resolution had been brought out and
signed by the delegates of the - member countries
15Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
- Prominent approach to sustainable development
- Depending on imported technical skills
- Dependency reduction using Universities /
Institutions facilities - Awareness creation using institutional networks
- IIT Delhi
- BITS, Pilani
- VNIT, Nagpur
- NIT Kurukshetra
- VIT University
16Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
- Significance of SMEs contribution
- Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs)
- 90 of total enterprises in most of the
economies - generating the highest rates of employment
growth - major share of industrial production and
exports - 33 of the total export of the country and 39
of the manufacturing output - MSE sector employs 31 million persons spread
over 12.8 million enterprises - MSE sector almost 4 times higher than the large
enterprises
17Establishing and Managing Entrepreneurship Clubs
(E-Clubs) in Southern India
-
- Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises (MSME), Government of - India sanctioned Rs. 2.5 crores for
establishing this E-Clubs. - VIT University has become the first University
in Southern India to undertake - this project
- MSME Development Institute, Chennai and VIT
signed MoU on July 2007 - MSME and VIT University establishing around
200 E-Clubs in all the five - Southern States of India
- First of such clubs are already working at
Vellore and Coimbatore
18Establishing and Managing Entrepreneurship Clubs
(E-Clubs) in Southern India
-
- Expected outcomes
- Provide solutions for common problems
- Enhancing the productivity and competitiveness
of entrepreneurs - Capacity building of micro and small
enterprises - Facilitate substantial economic of scale
- Provide management training
- Provide incubator services
- Representation to industry associations / other
agencies
19Support to SMEs through Business Incubation at
VIT Technology Business Incubator (VIT-TBI)
-
- Pre-incubation Services
- Established three product innovation centre
with the support from Department - of Science Technology (DST), Government of
India - Grant from the infoDev (the World Bank Group)
of USD 0.15 million - Entrepreneurs access to the VIT University
facilities through VIT-TBI - Midcourse correction support is available
20Support to SMEs through Business Incubation at
VIT Technology Business Incubator (VIT-TBI)
-
- VIT-TBI provided structured training named
Accelerated Business Coaching - Program (www.knowledgebiz.org)
- Close working relationship with over 60
corporate and industry clients - Conduced Capacity Building Program for Business
Incubation Managers under - SSC in May 2007. Over 19 participants from
China, Mauritius, Mozambique, - Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam
attended
21Failure Issues
- Common causes of SMEs Failures
-
- Lack of will and perseverance on the part of
the entrepreneurs - Peer and family pressure
- Fear of failure
- Lack of a failure tolerant eco-system
22The Challenges in Technology Transfer in Medium
and Small Scale Industries
-
- Conversion of kerosene stove to increase
efficiency - Conversion of motorcycle to tilling machine to
replace tractor - Low-cost drip irrigation system
- A manual milking device inventor J.S. Milker
- Interacting with academic institutions for
developing new process - BITS, Pilani Practical School model extremely
successful
23Failures in Technology Transfer in Medium and
Small Scale Industries
- Possible reasons of Failures
-
- Lack of funds to establish sophisticated and
advanced facilities for - the technology development and transfer
- Interdisciplinary work. Number of experts
available are fewer - which are required to scale-up the process
- Lack of funds and interest by the funding
agency result in half - backed process know-how causing failure
- Lack of a failure tolerant eco-system
24Failures in Technology Transfer in Medium and
Small Scale Industries
- Suggestions
-
- Adequate funding should be provided
- Joint work, better cooperation and coordination
among different - interest groups such as academic institutions,
research departments - and entrepreneurs
25Conclusions
- This paper has dealt with South-South
Cooperation for - Technology Transfer and also discussed at
length the - experience obtained dealing with SMEs at VIT
University, - Vellore
- Along with numerous success stories, some
failures are also - discussed along with the reasons and means to
avoid them - in future
- The interest groups in dealing with the topics
of technology - transfer small and medium enterprises will be
immensely - benefitted by the VIT experience
26- Besides these academic activities involving
exchange of students and faculty from various
universities abroad, IR is actively involved in
assisting in the International accreditation of
the VIT university. - It helped earlier in achieving the IET EI
accreditation from UK and now currently helping
in securing the American Accreditations ABET and
AACSB for our Engineering and Management
programmes. - It is also assisting in monitoring the Asia-Link
programme on Energy and Environment with UAS
Aachen and Masters programme in Automobile
Engineering with UAS Esslingen and ARAI, Pune.
Thank You