Seminar by Dr Chidambaran G Iyer

Technology transfer impact in a low-income country: Case studies of two medical devices from India

Chidambaran G. Iyer

Abstract

Studies that focus on economic impacts of technology transfer from a public research institution to private firms are rare in India, a lacuna that this study tries to fill in. In the 1980s and 90s India was a low-income country and its medical device ecosystem was non-existent; it was then that a government lab in Kerala (an Indian state) embarked on a technology transfer process for two medical devices – blood bag and heart valve. This paper, using the contingent effectiveness model, traces out few of the impacts of these two technology transfers on the industry and the economy. The paper not only brings out the market impact and economic development but also their impact on the government lab and on recipient firms. Blood bag was transferred first to an entrepreneur led firm, understandably, it faced a lot of challenges. The entrepreneur used people’s competencies to overcome challenges and exploit the opportunity. Progressive outlook at the government lab coupled with learnings from blood bag process made the heart valve process smoother and efficient. We also note that scientific and technical human capital benefitted from the two processes. Higher demand for blood bags led to mushrooming of blood bag factories across the country, reducing imports and creating more forward and backward linkages. Policy insight from the analysis is that domestic development of products/processes having larger demand creates more economic opportunities in the near term.