A 2-decade lag in Indian nanotech

Nanotechnology, the science of developing or controlling matter on the atomic or molecular levels, is still a field of science limited largely to academia, with little practical utility in India, finds a recent study of the Indian Institute of Science.

India may well end up missing the nanotechnology bus, the study warns. Already, the level of nanotechnology development in the country is behind more developed countries by over two decades.

“In India, the funding stops at academic research. The mechanism put in place to encourage entrepreneurships is not efficient, hence the problem,” said Neelima Vatsa, author of the study, a PhD student at the department of management studies, IISc.

During the six-year-long research  Neelima Vatsa visited 12 start-up companies that support the development of nanotechnology products. She spoke to 56 academics.

Nearly 17 employees of private firms were involved in the survey, to help chalk out the contours of the nanotechnology scenario in India.

One area where the study found adequate government intervention was in funding for academic research. “The buck, however, seems to stop with the funding for research.  The work in nanotechnology in India is mostly in the field of research and publishing of scientific papers,” Vatsa said, adding that her own study began with an analysis of available literature in the field. “To my dismay, I found out that even the bulk of the literature is produced abroad,” she said.

The government of India constituted the Technology Development Board in 1996, with the purpose of encouraging the use, in industry and enterprise, of indigenously-developed technology. Despite this, and  the allocation of substantial funds under the 10th Five Year Plan, there has been little application of nanotechnology in industry in India. 

“In spite of measures to encourage and fund entrepreneurs by the government, the bureaucratic mechanism has discouraged many young businessmen  from pursuing endeavours in the field, as they have had little choice of finances,” Neelima Vatsa explained. Many start-ups have thus had to depend on funding from private sources. “The bigger companies are simply not doing anything. In India, the concept of venture capitalists in the field has still not taken off,” Neelima explained.

There is limited give-and-take between academia and industry; knowledge transfer from laboratories to manufacturing units does not happen. While interaction between members within the academia is frequent, academia-industry interface is limited.

There is also little interaction between industry and government agencies, Neelima Vatsa found. “That explains the block in finance,” she said.