India Introduces NTRAF to Streamline Health Innovation Assessment

The framework is expected to play a central role in the implementation of national R&D and innovation funds by helping funding agencies allocate resources more precisely.

India has formally introduced the National Technology Readiness Assessment Framework (NTRAF) to establish a standard, objective method for evaluating technology maturity, to improve funding decisions, investor confidence, and technology transfer outcomes.

Developed in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the framework is open for public consultation until January 31, 2026, allowing stakeholders across sectors, including digital health and health innovation, to provide inputs.

At its core, the framework defines a structured pathway across nine Technology Readiness Levels, ranging from early-stage proof of concept to full operational deployment.

By replacing subjective assessments with documented evidence at each stage, it seeks to address what policymakers describe as the persistent “Valley of Death” where promising technologies, including health innovation platforms and digital health tools, fail to secure funding between advanced prototyping and market entry.

Speaking at the launch, Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, said, “For too long, the Indian deeptech ecosystem has faced a precarious situation where academia and industry speak different dialects regarding technology readiness. This mismatch often creates a ‘Valley of Death’ between TRL 4 and TRL 7, where funding dries up due to perceived risks. The NTRAF moves us from subjective narratives to objective evidence, ensuring that we are not just funding science experiments, but scalable, market-ready solutions.”

Officials highlighted that the framework is expected to play a central role in the implementation of national R&D and innovation funds by helping funding agencies allocate resources more precisely.

This is particularly relevant for health innovation, where regulatory complexity, long validation cycles, and integration with healthcare systems increase perceived risk for private investors.

Dr Parvinder Maini, Scientific Secretary, Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, described the framework as a definitive guide that aligns researchers’ claims with investor expectations, while Dr Shivkumar Kalyanaraman, CEO, Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), emphasised that technology readiness must progress alongside market validation, especially for sectors like healthcare and digital health.

He also proposed a pilot phase in which selected technologies could be cross-validated to refine the framework before wider adoption.

The framework incorporates global best practices while adapting them to Indian conditions and includes sector-specific annexures for areas such as healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and software.

By offering a self-assessment mechanism, it enables innovators working in health innovation to identify technical and validation gaps early, potentially shortening the path from laboratory research to patient-ready solutions.

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