New Delhi, Oct 15 (KNN) With the advent of technology revolution in India, it has become necessary to process innovation among MSMEs and thus stepping forward towards this Tamil Nadu Government launched an initiative called Innovation Voucher Program (IVP) for MSMEs.

The aim of this move is to encourage innovation among MSMEs in the manufacturing sector as the acceleration of technology trends such as Industry 4.0, 3D printing and relaxation in regulatory processes for electric vehicles, defence and space manufacturing are creating new challenges and opportunities for the MSMEs.

Based on a model that has been successful in other parts of the world such as Europe and Australia, IVP encourages formation of a virtuous cycle (referred to as the Triple-Helix model) among MSMEs, Knowledge Partners such as academic and research institutions, and the government.

The program has two grants ranging from Rs 2-5 lakhs to support product and process innovation among MSMEs.

 The program is being implemented by the Entrepreneurship Development and Innovation Institute (EDII) and the Department of Industries and Commerce.

The Government is launching an awareness campaigns to encourage the MSMEs to take the initiative to identify the opportunities for innovation, partner with suitable Knowledge Partners and submit the proposals for the grant.

To take advantage of this program, it is important for knowledge partners to play a proactive role in this initiative of government as information asymmetries might create challenges for MSMEs in finding suitable Knowledge Partners with relevant research capabilities.

Knowledge partners (especially engineering colleges) have a great opportunity to contribute to this program and benefit from it.

However, instead of waiting for MSMEs to come up with design challenges, faculty and students should reach out to their local MSMEs with proactive proposals.

This win-win relationship can also create a strong talent pool to support further innovation in the manufacturing sector. Promising ideas emerging from such an initiative can then be considered for further development in incubators and accelerators.