The 'Ministry of Science and Technology' is the Central authority in India responsible for overall development of science and technology as well as for promotion of innovation process in India. The Department of Science and Technology (DST) is the the nodal Department of the Ministry for organising, coordinating and promoting S&T activities in the country. It is the main public policy support body for science and technology. It has enrolled into a role of strengthening the research and development base of the country. It is also the major agency in the country for promotion of basic sciences with a share of nearly 50% of Extra Mural funding of research projects. The Department plays a critical role in the technology development programmes relating to key sectors and in the development of International Cooperation in Science and Technology. Popularisationof science, relating science to society, promotion of entrepreneurship, National Resources data management and generation of data bases and initiatives targeting empowerment of women through applications of science and technology form important areas of focus for planned interventions by the Department. The Department is actively involved in promotion and development of S&T in States as well as in supporting S&T entrepreneurship development for promotion of knowledge-based technology driven entrepreneurs. It has been supporting an array of autonomous institutions engaged in basic research, technology forecasting, laboratory accreditation and science popularisation. Output indicators of these institutions reveal a strong correlation between inputs and outputs. The Department oversees two sub-departments, namely, Survey of India and National Atlas and Thematic Mapping Organization (NATMO).

DST has also set up National Innovation Foundation (NIF) of India, with the main goal of providing institutional support in scouting, spawning, sustaining and scaling up grassroots green innovations and helping their transition to self supporting activities. NIF seeks to achieve this goal by drawing upon the HoneyBee network and its collaborating partners. The Honeybee Network and Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions (SRISTI) have been scouting innovations by farmers, artisans, women, etc. at the grassroots level. The Honey Bee database of 10,000 innovations, collected and documented by SRISTI, would be a part of the National Register of Innovations, is to be managed and supported by NIF.

The primary objectives of NIF are to:

• Help India become an innovative and creative society and a global leader in sustainable technologies by scouting, spawning and sustaining grassroots innovations.
• Ensure evolution and diffusion of green grassroots innovation in a selective, time-bound and mission oriented basis so as to meet the socio-economic and environmental needs of society.
• Provide institutional support in scouting, spawning, sustaining and scaling up grassroots green innovations as well as outstanding traditional knowledge and helping their transition to self supporting activities.
• Build linkages between excellence in formal scientific systems and informal knowledge systems and create a knowledge network to link various stakeholders through application of information technology and other means; etc.

To meet its objectives in scouting, awarding and incubation of grassroot innovations, NIF has set up five dedicated departments to execute innovation to enterprise development models:-

• Scouting and Documentation
• Business Development and Micro Venture
• Value Addition and Research and Development
• Intellectual Property Management
• Dissemination and Information Technology Management

Another main department of Ministry of Science and Technology is the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) which has a mandate to carry out the activities relating to indigenous technology promotion, development, utilization and transfer. The primary endeavour of DSIR is to promote R&D by the industries, support a larger cross section of small and medium industrial units to develop state-of-the art globally competitive technologies of high commercial potential, catalyse faster commercialization of lab-scale R&D, enhance the share of technology intensive exports in overall exports, strengthen industrial consultancy and technology management capabilities as well as establish user friendly information network to facilitate scientific and industrial research in the country. It also provides a link between scientific laboratories and industrial establishments for transfer of technologies through National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) and facilitates investment in R&D through Central Electronics Limited (CEL). It has two autonomous organisation like Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Consultancy Development Centre (CDC).

Hence, the main objectives with which DSIR has been set up are to:-

• Promote R&D in industry.
• Develop technological capabilities of technical personnel in national Labs / Institutions and Industry.
• Promote Technology Development and Management in Industry.
• Help individual innovators promote original ideas and translate into workable processes / prototypes.
• Promote association of National Labs and national Institutes with industrial projects for technology development.
• Give wider publicity to the initiatives of the Government through the programs and the schemes of the Department.