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Evaluation Process and Policy
Venture Center’s Policy and Procedures on
Evaluation and Short listing of Applications:
1. Venture Center is a TePP Outreach Centre (TUC) with limited decision making authority and not the final decision making authority for the DSIR’s TePP program. That said, the DSIR has authorized TUCs to carry out some functions and shortlist applications for consideration by DSIR’s TePP Screening Committee. This document lays out the policies and procedures followed by Venture Center.
2. The application process typically starts with a discussion meeting between the technopreneur/ innovator (potential applicant) and the TUC team at Venture Center. This meeting allows the potential applicant to discuss the technology, the development and commercialization plan and scheme guidelines/ rules with the TUC team. The TUC team typically provides the necessary information on the scheme to the potential applicant. The TUC team may also encourage the applicant to file a patent application at this stage to protect his/her idea.
3. If appropriate, the TUC team encourages the applicant to submit a proposal via Venture Center’s online submission form. In some cases, if the proposed technology or its development/ commercialization plan is outside the scope of the TePP scheme, then the TUC team may discourage an applicant from proceeding ahead. Key considerations at this stage are:
- Is the proposal based on a technology idea?
- Does the applicant meet the criteria defined in
- Is the funding requirement within the limits set
4. Following this, the applicant prepares the first draft of the proposal and submits the proposal via Venture Center’s online submission form.
5. The TUC team reviews the received proposal and suggests changes and improvements to the proposal so as to improve its quality, suggest addition of information and get it to a stage that is suitable for submission to technical experts (called “technology angles” in the scheme) for technical reviews. Key considerations at this stage are:
- Has the applicant described the technology in sufficient detail to enable an evaluation for technical and commercial feasibility?
- Has the applicant provided enough information to gauge “innovativeness or novelty” of the technology?
- Has the applicant provided enough details about himself/ herself to support the applicant’s technical credibility in delivering the technology?
- Has the applicant provided sufficient details to allow the reviewers to gauge if the funds requested are reasonable for achieving the technology goals?
6. Beyond this, the TUC team takes qualified proposals to the next stage of evaluation by technical experts/ technology angels. The Venture Center has a network of reviewers/ technology angels. Most of the technology angles are persons with considerable experience and technical depth. Most technology angels are associated with research, academic or other non-profit entities. Venture Center takes care to ensure that there is no conflict of interest. The TUC team identifies suitable reviewers. In most cases, the identity of the reviewers is not revealed to the applicant. Each qualified proposal is studied and commented upon by at least 2 technology angels.
7. The technology angels are requested to comment on the proposal on the following topics:
- Is the proposed technology technically feasible?
- Is the technology novel?
- Are there any barriers for the technology?
- Is the proposed timeline and funding requirements reasonable to achieve the goals?
- Comments on commercial viability
8. The anonymized comments of the technology angels are provided to the applicant for inputs and rebuttal. Based on the responses the reviewers come to a final conclusion and recommendations on the proposal. Typical situations that arise at this stage and action taken are given below:
|
Situation |
Action taken |
Remarks |
|
Both reviews of technology angels are positive |
The proposal is readied for sending to DSIR in Delhi for discussion in the next TSC meeting. |
|
|
Both reviews of technology angels are negative |
The applicant is informed of the negative reviews and also informed that his/her proposal cannot be processed further. |
TUC has been authorized by DSIR to act thus via TSC meeting minutes dated 18.01.2012 |
|
One review is positive, while another is negative. |
In this case, the TUC team gets a third reviewer to provide comments. · Following this if 2 of 3 reviews are positive, then the proposal is readied for sending to DSIR in Delhi for discussion in the next TSC meeting. · Following this if 2 of 3 reviews are negative, then the applicant is informed of the negative reviews and also informed that his/her proposal cannot be processed further. |
TUC has been authorized by DSIR to act thus via TSC meeting minutes dated 18.01.2012 |
9. For cases to be sent to Delhi, the TUC team prepares a 1-2 page summary as required by DSIR and then forwards the proposal along with the reviews to DSIR, Delhi.
10. In the event that the TUC team has informed an applicant that his/her proposal cannot be processed further due to unfavourable reviews from technology angels and the applicant has a grievance against that assessment, the applicant can request the DSIR to directly consider his/her case. In this case, the TUC team will forward the proposal along with the reviews received to the concerned person at DSIR handling the case.