Bridging the Gap: How Pravriddhi Is Turning Indian Research into World-Class Products (ICC Blog # 133)
- Dr Sp Mishra
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Insights from Mr. Yogesh Pandit, Director – Product Acceleration, FSID, IISc Bangalore
In an engaging India Career Centre podcast, I sat down with Mr. Yogesh Pandit – a seasoned product leader with 23+ years across automotive, defence, aerospace, consumer and industrial electronics – to discuss one of India’s biggest innovation bottlenecks: the wide chasm between brilliant academic research and market-ready, commercially successful products.
Yogesh now leads Pravriddhi (प्रवृद्धि – “towards progress”), a unique product accelerator under the Foundation for Science, Innovation and Development (FSID) at IISc Bangalore. Launched to fuel the Viksit Bharat @2047 vision, Pravriddhi is laser-focused on boosting India’s manufacturing GDP contribution from ~$660 billion today to $7.5 trillion by 2047 – a staggering 12× leap.
From Tinkering in Bangalore to Building India’s Deep-Tech Ecosystem
A middle-class boy from Bangalore, Yogesh built his first battery-less AM radio in Class 4-5 after devouring electronics books from a local fair. By Class 12 he was running a mini-business assembling tape players and audio amplifiers. An engineering degree from SIT Tumkur (Bangalore University) and a Master’s in Wireless Communications from Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) followed. Two decades in multinational product companies gave him a rare cross-sector view – from rugged defence electronics to high-volume consumer products.
After 23 years of building products for global giants, he made a conscious shift:
“I wanted to bring the same systematic innovation processes to Indian companies and help India own its technology.”
The Patent Paradox: India Innovates – But Who Owns the IP?
On the surface, India’s patent filings look impressive. But dig deeper into the Patent Dashboard and the picture changes:
3,00,000+ patents granted in India till May 2025 (10 years 2015-2025)
Yet the top grantees are American, Japanese, German, Chinese, and Swiss companies
Indian companies lag far behind
“We are innovating – but the IP belongs to foreign entities. We remain technology end users, not technology owners,” says Yogesh.
Possible Root causes? Historically low R&D investment, risk-averse capital, and a socio-economic mindset shaped by resource scarcity post-independence.
The Missing Bridge: From Lab (TRL 4) to Factory (TRL 8–9)
Academic institutions excel till Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3–4. Industry wants ready products at TRL 7–9. The dangerous “valley of death” in between kills most deep-tech ideas.
Pravriddhi steps exactly into this gap.
How Pravriddhi Works – A Proven Playbook
Start with market pull & import substitution (low-hanging fruit from India’s import bill)
Identify viable products (to be built) with clear 5–10-year demand
Pair industry partners (mostly existing MSMEs/large firms) with top subject-matter experts from IISc, IITs, CSIR labs, ARAI, BARC, etc.
Provide structured New Product Development (NPD) processes used by global giants
Bring in investors (government + private equity/AIF/family offices) early
Monthly & quarterly reviews + a custom tech stack for IP management, scheduling, and valuation
Parallel skilling track using AR/VR-based training modules and simplified digital twins
Result so far? First cohort (High-Speed Rotating Machines): 8 products developed → 4 already generating sales → 4 more in final customer trials → Combined 39 IPs created (19 patents valued at ~₹250 crore) → Success rate: 70–80% vs ~3% for typical Indian startups
What’s Next? 8+ Cohorts Already in Pipeline
Electric Vehicle E-Axles (traction motors, power electronics, gearboxes, vehicle control units)
Textile machinery (to beat cheap second-hand imports)
Electronics manufacturing equipment (PCB assembly, pick-and-place, reflow machines, etc.)
Passive electronic components (capacitors, resistors, inductors) manufacturing machines
Industrial sensors
Defence-specific cohorts
All products are selected for indigenous consumption and global export potential, with rigorous freedom-to-operate analysis and new IP creation built in from day one.
Why Tech Sovereignty Is Non-Negotiable
Among the world’s top-5 economies, India is the only net technology importer. China bent its GDP curve upwards in the early 2000s by becoming a technology creator and exporter. India’s curve remains flat.
“Unless we own our core technologies and IP, we will forever pay royalties and remain strategically vulnerable,” warns. Yogesh.
A Replicable Model – And an Open Invitation
Pravriddhi is designed as a “copy-left” platform. FSID@IISc., has built the entire tech stack and process framework to be shared freely with any academic or research institution that wants to replicate it.
“We alone can saturate at 40–50 products per year. India needs at least 1,000 new indigenously developed products every year to hit the 2047 targets. We need 15–20 such centres of excellence across the country.”
Message to Young Engineers & Entrepreneurs
Join structured ecosystems like Pravriddhi – the odds of success skyrocket
Focus on market-driven, design-led innovation
Think global from day one – build IP-protected products India can export
Upskill in AR/VR, AI-enabled predictive maintenance, digital twins – these are the tools of tomorrow’s factory
As Yogesh puts it: “The capability is there. The opportunity is there. What we now need is the will – from industry, from investors, and from every young engineer who wants to write India’s next manufacturing success story.”
Interested industry partners can register at pravriddhi.org Catch live demos and meet Pravriddhi’s first cohort companies at the CII Industry-Academia Meet, 5 December, India Habitat Centre, Delhi.
#MakeInIndia #AtmanirbharBharat #DeepTech #Manufacturing #Innovation #ViksitBharat #EngineeringCareers
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