Policy brief: Technology transfer between the EU and India, challenges and opportunities

Main author: Teresa de OliveiraContributor: Franz Paul Mayer

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Main author: Teresa de Oliveira Centre for Social Innovation (ZSI), Vienna Contributor: Franz Paul Mayer Centre for Social Innovation (ZSI), Vienna

Legal notice: 2017 INDIGO POLICY projects

All rights reserved. This publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechnical methods, only with the prior written permission of the publisher. The author(s) are solely responsible for the content of this technical report. Furthermo-re, the technical report does not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Commission.

INDIGO POLICY has received funding from the European Unions Seventh Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration under Grant Agreement No 609535.

Date of publication: April 2017 First edition

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TabLe Of CONTeNTLIsT Of abbrevIaTIONs 04absTraCT 05INTrODUCTION 06fIrsT ParT: UNDersTaNDING THe CONCePT Of TeCHNOLOGY TraNsfer 09

1.1 DEFINING ThE CONCEPT OF TEChNOLOGY TRANSFER 091.2 ThE CONCEPT OF TEChNOLOGY TRANSFER AS PERCEIVED bY INTERNATIONAL STAkEhOLDERS 122. fOrms Of aND CHaNNeLs Of THe TeCHNOLOGY TraNsfer 142.1 TRADE IN GOODS AND SERVICES 142.2 FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT 142.3 kNOwLEDGE ExChANGE 152.4 MOVEMENT OF hUMAN CAPITAL 153. aNaLYsING ImPOrTaNT CHaNNeLs Of TeCHNOLOGY TraNsfer beTweeN INDIa aND THe eUrOPeaN UNION 163.1 TRADE IN GOODS 163.2 TRADE IN SERVICES 173.3 EUROPEAN COMPANIES IN INDIA 193.4 INDIAN COMPANIES IN ThE EUROPEAN UNION 213.5 LAbOUR MObILITY 22

seCOND ParT: sTaKeHOLDers INvOLveD IN THe PrOCess Of TeCHNOLOGY TraNsfer beTweeN INDIa & THe eUrOPeaN UNION 24

2.1 IDENTIFYING ThE RELEVANT PUbLIC STAkEhOLDERS IN bOTh REGIONS 24

THIrD ParT: eXPLOrING THe CHaLLeNGes aND OPPOrTUNITIes Of TeCHNOLOGY TraNsfer beTweeN INDIa aND THe eUrOPeaN UNION 31

3.1 ChARACTERISATION OF EUROPEAN AND INDIAN ExPERTS INTERVIEwED 313.2 INVESTIGATING ON ThE STRATEGIC VIEwS FROM DIFFERENT STAkEhOLDERS bOTh IN INDIA AND ThE EUROPEAN UNION 323.3 ChALLENGES AND DIFFICULTIES ASSOCIATED TO ThE PROCESS

OF TEChNOLOGY TRANSFER 343.4 OPPORTUNITIES ASSOCIATED TO ThE PROCESS OF TEChNOLOGY

TRANSFER bETwEEN INDIA AND ThE EUROPEAN UNION 40CONCLUsIONs 43bIbLIOGraPHY 44aNNeX: QUesTIONNaIre 49

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List of abbreviations

LIsT Of abbrevIaTIONs

CEA Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission

EIF European Investment Fund

EICC Europe India Chamber of Commerce

EIF European Investment Fund

ELAN European and Latin American business Services and Innovation

ESA European Space Agency

EU European Union

EU 25 Austria, belgium, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Netherlands, United kingdom

FDI Foreign Direct Investment

IP Intellectual Property

IPR Intellectual Property Rights

IT Information and Technology

JV Joint Venture

JRC Joint Research Centre

M&A Mergers and Acquisitions

NRDC National Research Development Corporation

PRO Public Research Organisation

R&D Research and Development

SME Small and Medium Entreprises

TTO Technology Transfer Organisation

wIPO world Intellectual Property Organisation

Uk United kingdom

UN United Nations

URDIP Unit for Research and Development of Information Products

US United States

ZSI Centre for Social Innovation

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Abstract

absTraCT

This analytical report reviews the concept of technology transfer from a theoretical perspective and various approaches within different discip-lines. It also intends to gauge the perceptions of diverse stakeholders on the current challenges and opportunities associated to the process of technology transfer between India and the European Union.

The results of this study show that the challenges associated to techno-logy transfer are mainly related to the lack of law enforcement as well as the lack of technically trained staff. As regards the opportunities, the semi-structured interviews carried out by this study underline the huge potential of the Indian consumer market as well as the reinforcement of scientific, industrial and commercial ties between both regions.

This study concludes that technology transfer between India and the EU is already occurring through different channels and it could be further enhanced by an adequate policy framework between both regions.

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Introduction

INTrODUCTION

India and the European Union (EU) have been important research and innovation partners since 2001 and the collaboration also embeds the technology transfer in all its forms.

This study reviews the technology transfer concept from a theoretical perspective and adopts a qualitative approach to assess the percepti-on of Indian and European stakeholders on the process of technology transfer. The aim of this policy brief is to identify the main challenges and opportunities of technology transfer that the current EU-India coopera-tion encompasses.

This paper proceeds along the following structure: the first part of report is focused on the setting the scene of the concept of technology transfer and forms and channels in which technology transfer can occur.

In the second part of the report, it is briefly presented those relevant stakeholders both in India and the EU that are currently involved in the process of technology transfer.

Third part aims to address the most relevant challenges and opportu-nities that are associated to the process of technology transfer between India and the European Union.

This paper concludes by summarising the challenges and opportunities.

meTHODOLOGICaL CONsIDeraTIONs

The study employed a qualitative approach, using semi-structured in-terviews as a research method, followed by subsequent content analysis of the interviews. The semi-structured interviews were conducted with relevant stakeholders involved in the process of technology transfer both in India and Europe.

semI-sTrUCTUreD INTervIews as researCH meTHOD

Semi-structured interviews have the benefit of permitting the necessa-ry flexibility to allow following interviewees relevance dimensions rather than our own. In addition, we pre-defined some dimensions of interest for our analysis, structuring the guidelines for the interviews. we inter-viewed several Indian and European relevant stakeholders involved in the process of technology transfer.

The interviews followed an established pattern and the interviewees were asked the same questions so as to express their opinions and percep-tions on technology transfer, more specifically, its challenges and oppor-tunities. After the interviews were completed, we compared the findings and extracted valid generalisations.

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Introduction

DeveLOPmeNT Of THe QUesTIONNaIre aND ImPLemeNTaTION Of THe INTervIews

This study was carried out by a team from the Centre for Social Innova-tion (ZSI), in Vienna, Austria. The questionnaire and the implementation of the interviews were mainly drafted and conducted by the main author and contributor of this policy brief.

In addition, questions and methodology were elaborated and imple-mented between January and March 2017. The preliminary draft of the questionnaire was developed, with questions set being designed to address the various information requirements contained in the INDIGO POLICY description of work, and focusing on elements that could not be answered by the quantitative analysis of data. In particular, the questi-onnaire aimed to elicit a more detailed understanding on the challenges and opportunities associated to the process of technology transfer both in India and the European Union.

The first draft questionnaire was prepared in January 2017 by the team involved from the Centre for Social Innovation (ZSI). A number of revi-sions were then made based on the feedback received from experts in the field of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) at the ZSI. The final version of the questionnaire consisted of 10 open-ended questions, the responses to which were recorded in the interview notes. All interviews were conducted either by phone or Skype.

A complete version of the final version of the survey questionnaire can be found in the Annex.

seLeCTION Of eUrOPeaN aND INDIaN sTaKeHOLDers

The selection of relevant European and Indian stakeholders was made by the responsible team in charge of the implementation of the study. The team of the Centre for Social Innovation engaged in this study, con-ducted desk research and pre-selected a list of fifteen relevant experts, consultants, public servants that were important to interview, in both re-gions. A request for an interview explaining the objective of study was sent on February 2017 to all pre-selected experts.

Additionally, considering the importance of trade relations between In-dia and the European Union, and above all, the increased importance of EU based companies in India, some EU organisations and EU based ex-perts in India were also contacted for the purpose of this study. It is worth nothing that we conducted interviews with al