Date: 14 October 2018
Time: 08:15-12:50
Hall: TB
Technological innovation is the foundation of knowledge-based economy. Technological advancement can be achieved through domestic innovation and technology transferred from other countries. Nepali diaspora has a significant experience in technological innovations, technology transfer and intellectual property protection. This session will explore how diaspora expertise can be utilized in achieving knowledge-based economy in supporting innovation in Nepal.
Focus:
Technological Innovation, Technology Transfer, Updating Government Policies, Intellectual Property Protection.
Background:
Nepal has had a late start to adapt to science and technology (S&T) and was left out of the social transformation embraced by the rest of the world from the Industrial revolution. Ne-pal’s first S&T policy was started in 1961 with the help from UNESCO which led to setting up government Research and Development (R&D) departments, Royal Drug Research and Agricultural Departments. Tribhuvan University (TU)’s first Research Centre for Science and Technology (RECAST) was established in 1977. Almost a decade later, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) was established in 1982 to coordinate overall S&T activi-ties. Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) and National Planning Commission were subsequently established in 1992 and later Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) to consolidate and modernize S&T activities and bring them under one umbrella. Despite all above initiatives, Nepal has failed to consolidate and use science and technology effectively as an important tool of prosperity till to-date.
In almost 70-year span, Nepal’s failure to change public perception about the importance of science education and S&T is reflected on its S&T commitment of 0.3 % of GDP. Of the cur-rent 29 million population, we have less than 200,000 post-graduate/higher education man-power and only 20% of schools teach science at grade 12 level today. World Trade Organiza-tion (WTO) has predicted that by 2020, 40% of global employment in any industry, would need at least undergraduate level manpower. Nepal is likely to fare poorly in this arena.
Nepal’s skilled youth population is leaving for overseas in large numbers (with 30% annual increase) in search of higher education and likewise highly skilled manpower is also leaving Nepal for a better life in foreign lands. This would create a huge vacuum in the country and Nepal would not have enough skilled human resources to meet the growing industry needs.
Nepal needs to drastically increase the budget for science education and S&T to develop in-frastructure and join global race for knowledge and technology innovation, transfer and adap-tation. In this endeavor, increased role, investment and contributions from the private sector is equally important. Country’s S&T policies needs revisit to develop clear future strategy and direction based on a strong collaborative, partnership and co-investment model with NRNA (Non-Resident Nepali Association) and global institutions to catch up with developing coun-tries. The session’s focus will be on above issues and suggest measures how public sectors, donor, local industries and academia sectors could work effectively to make innovation and technology transfer achievable and make a meaningful contribution to nation prosperity.
The Plenary and Symposium sessions will focus on the following five themes
1. Government policies and initiatives on Innovation, Start-ups and Technology transfer
2. Technology transfer and product development through Start-up.
3. Case studies of Diaspora and Nepali S&T Experiences on Biotechnology, Energy, IT, Health disciplines
4. Private sectors and investors perspectives
5. IP portfolio and policies
The Plenary session will discuss the above themes in macroscopic level and Symposium will focus on more microscopic discussions.
Contact Information :
Coordinators:Dr Raju Adhikari, RMIT University, Australia (r_adhikari@hotmail.com);Dr Rameshwar Adhikari, RECAST, Tribhuvan University, Nepal (ram.adhikari.tu@gmail.com)
Symposium 11:Technology Transfer and Innovation 14 October, 08:15-12:50, Malhar Hall |
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Session A: Opportunities in Innovation and Technology Transfer, Moderator: Dr Rameshwor Adhikari | ||||
Speaker/Panelist | Topic | Institute | ||
Tea and networking | ||||
Contributed | Dinesh Kumar Gautam, Dr | Challenges and Opportunities of Technology Transfer in Nepal | Executive Director, Probiotech Industries Pvt. Ltd. | dinesh.gautam@nimbusnepal.com |
Invited | Hom Bahadur Basnet, Prof Dr | Role of Technology in Poultry Industry | President, Nepal Poultry Entrepreneurs Forum | |
Sudhakar Jayaram | Medical tourism in Nepal | CEO, Medicity Hospital | ||
Contributed | Ravindra M. Sapkota. Dr | Shikar BioTch-Antibody production-A spin-off company of the British-Nepali venture Everest Biotech Limited, UK | Shikhar Biotech, Kathmandu, Nepal | support@shikharbiotech.com |
Contributed | Yogan Khatri, Dr | Fair haired diasporic dandelion fluffs to bridge nation’s scientific innovation through technology transfer | University of Illinois, USA, Research Fellow, Life Sciences Institute, University of Michigan, USA | ykhatri@umich.edu |
Contributed | Rajendra P Pangeni, Mr | Transferring innovation in cancer research, diagnosis and treatment through research driven academic institution in Nepal | Dept of Surgery, City of hope medical centre, CA, USA | rajendrappangeni@gmail.com |
Contributed | Basant Giri | Development of appropriate low cost technologies for quality screening of food, water, and medicines | Center for Analytical Sciences, Kathmandu Institute of Applied Sciences | bgiri@kias.org.np |
Contributed | Bimal Bastola | Plastic waste management and utilization through construction of plastic-mixed roads, bricks and flooring tiles | Green Road Waste Management Pvt. Ltd | bimal2398@gmail.com, |
Contributed | Varun Amatya | E-governance based system architecture and its effectiveness in Nepalese civil service | NA | v.amatya@gmail.com |
Summary | Rameshwor Adhikari, Dr | RMIT University, Australia | r_adhikari@hotmail.com | |
Tea Break | ||||
Invited | Habib Torfi, Dr | How Stem Cells Shape our Lives | CEO & Chairperson Invitrx Therapeutics, CA, USA | info@invitrx.com |
Invited | Ajaya Bahadur Pradhananga, Dr | Herbs and agro based enterprise in Nepal | Co-founder, Himalayan Climate Initiative. Kathmandu, Nepal | fhlajay@gmail.com |
Contributed | Rishi Ram Chapagai, Mr | Intellectual property of research center and university : technology transfer, performance and policy implications in Nepal | Boston International College, Chitwan, Nepal | rchapagai@gmail.com |
Contributed | Daman Ghale | Eye pollution in Kathmandu | CEO, Nepal Eye Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal | damanbdrghale@hotmail.com |
Contributed | Shashi Bhattarai | A story of 15 years of bridging knowledge from Nepal to World | Cofounder and chair, Knowledge Holding International | Bhattarai@khint.com.np |
Contributed | Kishor Vaidya, Dr | Learning by role modeling: 10 little known business secrets of the most successful diaspora entrepreneurs | University of Canberra, Australia | kishor.vaidya@canberra.edu.au |
Rapid Fire | Nabin N Munankarmi, Mr | BSN and it role in promotion, development and awareness of biotechnology an life science in Nepal | President, Biotechnology Society of Nepal (BSN), Nepal | njb.bsn@gmail.com |
Rapid Fire | Pashupati Pandey | Experts databank, mentoring and internship opportunities with other sustainable short term and long terms projects | NRNA, NCC, USA | pashupati7@gmail.com |
Dicussion and Summary | Raju Adhikari, Dr | RECAST, Tribhuvan University, Nepal | nepalpolymer@yahoo.com |