Technology Transfer and Commercialisation Support (KSCSTE)

What is Technology Transfer and Commercialisation Support in Kerala?

Technology Transfer and Commercialisation Support in Kerala is not a single named scheme with one application form. The Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE), the state's apex science funding body under the Higher Education Department, delivers this support through a set of linked programmes, each covering a different part of the journey from a laboratory result to a product that a company can actually sell.

Understanding that structure matters, because a researcher who searches for a scheme by that name will not find one and may conclude wrongly that Kerala offers nothing. What KSCSTE actually offers is:

• TDAP: Technology Development and Adaptation Programme, for developing or upgrading a technology to the point of commercial demonstration.
• SPIIRC; Scheme for Promotion of Inter Institutional Research Collaboration, which funds collaborative research expected to yield a commercialisable product, and explicitly permits spending on patent filing and technology transfer.
• IPRICK: Intellectual Property Rights Information Centre, Kerala, which handles the IP protection step that must precede any transfer.

KSCSTE operates from Sasthra Bhavan, Pattom, Thiruvananthapuram, and is reachable on 0471-2548200.

Who is eligible for KSCSTE technology transfer support?

TDAP, you can apply if you are:

• An individual innovator with a professional degree. An engineering diploma or degree or equivalent. Students currently in professional technical courses may also apply.
• A scientist or researcher from a research organisation, academic institution or NGO engaged in technology product development.
• A medical professional developing a medical device or aid, but if the Principal Investigator is a medical professional, an engineering faculty member or R&D scientist must join as co-Principal Investigator.

SPIIRC — the applicant must be an institution:

• An R&D centre or institution under the Government of Kerala, a science or engineering department of a state university, or a government or aided college in Kerala.
• The Principal Investigator must be a full-time Professor or Scientist with a doctoral degree, with a minimum of 3 years of service completed and at least 5 years remaining until retirement.
• Collaboration with a national-level institution, IIT, IISER, NIT, ICMR, ICAR and similar: is mandatory.
• The team must include the PI, a minimum of two faculty or scientists and one researcher from the state institution, plus at least one faculty member and one researcher from the national collaborating institution.

You cannot apply, and are not eligible: if:

• You are an individual seeking a personal cash benefit. These are project grants, not income support.
• You are applying to SPIIRC as an individual or from a private institution outside the eligible list.
• You lack the technical or professional qualification TDAP requires of an individual innovator.
• The PI does not meet the service conditions; under 3 years of service, or fewer than 5 years to superannuation, disqualifies a SPIIRC proposal.
• There is no call notification open. Both programmes invite proposals only through website notifications.

How much funding is available?

TDAP funds are released through a tie-up institution rather than paid to the innovator directly, which is why the tie-up institution's endorsement is a mandatory document.

SPIIRC's permissible expenses are the clearest statement in the KSCSTE portfolio about commercialisation: testing charges, laboratory costs, fabrication, patent filing, technology transfer, and travel and hospitality for researcher visits between the partner institutions. The scheme states that "tangible research output in the form of a new product/ technology/ process having potential for commercialisation is expected", and every proposal must also align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and one of eight notified thrust areas, which include basic sciences, applied research, AI and genomics, and engineering advances.

What does IPRICK do?

IPRICK is Kerala's nodal agency for intellectual property services and is the practical first stop for anyone thinking about technology transfer, because a technology that is not protected cannot be licensed on good terms.

IPRICK provides technical and legal support for filing patents, copyrights, trademarks, industrial designs and geographical indications through partnered IP firms, along with complimentary prior art searches and trademark searches. Patent filing assistance is available for economically disadvantaged grassroots innovators. Patent facilitation forms are accepted year-round, unlike TDAP and SPIIRC which are call-based.

IPRICK's portal is www.patentcentre.kerala.gov.in, and the centre can be reached on 0471-2548211 or at iprickerala@gmail.com.

What documents are required?

How to apply for KSCSTE technology transfer and commercialisation support

1. Watch the KSCSTE notifications page at kscste.kerala.gov.in. TDAP and SPIIRC proposals are "invited through notification in the website", so there is no permanently open window for either.
2. Identify the right programme. Choose TDAP if you are taking a specific technology towards a product and commercial demonstration; choose SPIIRC if you are a state institution partnering with a national institution on collaborative research.
3. Line up the mandatory partner. TDAP needs a tie-up institution through which funds are released. SPIIRC needs a national-level collaborating institution and a complete team on both sides.
4. Prepare the proposal in the KSCSTE sample application format and submit it through the Google form or online link published with the notification.
5. Obtain and attach the endorsements from the implementing institution and, for SPIIRC, from the collaborating institution.
6. Separately file an IPRICK patent facilitation form if the work is likely to generate patentable IP. This can be done at any time of year and does not wait for a project call.
7. Await evaluation. TDAP proposals are evaluated and selected by the Technical Committee for TDAP (TC-TDAP).

How to follow up on a KSCSTE proposal

1. Contact the scientist named in the call notification for that programme. For TDAP, KSCSTE lists Dr Sherin B. M., Senior Scientist, at sherin.kscste@kerala.gov.in and 0471-2548230. For SPIIRC, Dr Siju C R, Scientist, at 0471-2548236.
2. For IPR matters, contact IPRICK on 0471-2548211 or iprickerala@gmail.com.
3. For anything else, the KSCSTE general line is 0471-2548200, and the office is at Sasthra Bhavan, Pattom, Thiruvananthapuram 695004.

Common reasons proposals do not get funded

• Applied outside a call window. Proposals sent when no notification is open are not processed.
• No tie-up or collaborating institution. For SPIIRC this is fatal, because collaboration with a national institution is the whole point of the scheme.
• PI service conditions not met: fewer than 3 years of service completed, or fewer than 5 years to retirement.
• No commercialisable output identified. SPIIRC expects a tangible product, technology or process; a purely descriptive study is a weak fit.
• Reports not filed on a previous grant. Quarterly progress reports and utilisation certificates are conditions of funding, and a defaulting investigator is unlikely to be funded again.
• Proposal not mapped to a thrust area or to the SDGs, both of which SPIIRC requires.