More women turning entrepreneurs to commercialise CFTRI technologies

The National Technology Day was observed at the CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) here on Monday.

Arjun Ranga, partner of NR Groups – the makers of Cycle Pure Agarbathi and CEO and Managing Director, N. Ranga Rao, and Sons Pvt Ltd., Mysuru was the chief guest. CSIR-CFTRI director Sridevi Annapurna Singh presided over the event and Aashitosh A. Inamdar, Head, TTBD Department, CFTRI was present.

The event also witnessed the exchange of project and technology agreements, distribution of appreciation certificates to Science and Technology team of the institute for their outstanding work last year, and distribution of certificates to licensees who have availed the CFTRI technologies for commercialisation.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Sridevi Annapurna Singh said 122 technologies had been transferred to 83 licencees last year by the CSIR-CFTRI.

This October, the CFTRI will be completing 74 years. There is a huge scope in the area of food processing since food is a basic need and it is now a thriving business. The food industry in India will be a 535 billion dollar market by 2025 and the scope is huge, she explained.

On the occasion, the licensees, mostly women entrepreneurs, were felicitated. The licence that was taken for commercial ventures include convenience flour from ragi suitable for stiff porridge; chikki/nutra chikki (three formulations); preparation of ready-to-cook multigrain whole mix for drink/porridge; decortication of ragi; multigrain nutri cookies, RTS beverage and tamarind candy.

She told the entrepreneurs and the licensee to focus on brand building and packaging to market their produce.

She said the CFTRI has primarily been catering to MSMEs and is largely society-oriented. Some of our technologies are available free. The technologies are transferred laterally and sometimes CFTRI do not get credit for the original discovery.

Ms. Singh said she has asked the licensee to prominently put the logo of CFTRI on their products so that the consumers come to know the genesis of the products through scientific research.

Mr. Arjun Ranga, who spoke on “Agarbathi to aerospace – creating an innovation mindset”, gave an overview of the journey of agarbathi industry his ancestors started and how the company has diversified its businesses from agarbathi to aerospace, leaving an indelible mark.

“Creativity comes from curiosity. We need to understand to whom we are catering and accordingly, we need to innovate. Understanding the market is key,” he said, in his address. Mr. Ranga said his company progressed because of the adoption of technology.

In India, opportunities are plenty. Sky is the limit if there is innovation. The native intelligence has to be harnessed and convert that into an innovative idea. There is no dearth of funding in India for innovation and the upcoming entrepreneurs need to explore the opportunities to take India forward, he advised.