The Action plan for the second phase 2021-2023 is a combination of six cross-cutting functional programs. The seven cross-cutting functional programs are Education and Training, Research and Business Development, School-Based Enterprise and Startup Incubation, Smart Health, Technology Database, and Networking, Testing, and Accreditation. Those cross-cutting functional programs lie in the center of IRDP’s priority sectors that are Agriculture and Rural Development, Health-related livelihood, Alternative and renewable energy. 

Education and Training: Education and training aim to provide short, certified courses in the field of technology management, entrepreneurship development, and fostering innovation. The program is mainly targeted for entrepreneurs, researchers, and the individual public having prior engagement in the technology field to educate and train them as an analyst of the technological market (either as a scientist or consultant) and as a business manager in highly competitive technology-driven sectors.

Research and Business Development: Nepal Technology Innovation Center aims to serve as a research and business development (R&BD) platform of Nepal through relevant operational/support programs. The business development platform will incorporate all aspects for growing a business from a concept phase to a fully operational stage. The core of the project is to promote the integrated development of the community through the strengthening of R&BD capabilities. Focusing on the area of agriculture and rural development, alternative and renewable energy, and health-related livelihood the survey and need analysis will be conducted within KU where R&BD will announce and select at least 3 projects in the first year and those selected projects shall serve as flagship projects of KU. In the next year, R&BD will announce open calls for the projects within the three thematic sectors (agricultural and rural development, renewable energy, and health-related livelihood). It will be open to business people, students, researchers, entrepreneurs, and other innovation centers. These projects will be selected and supported technically in such a way that they can be molded into a business through the startup and incubation program of NTIC. Similarly, R&BD will support other functional areas as per their need during the project duration.

Moreover, R&BD will support the commercialization of projects as well as it will also help to generate revenue to sustain NTIC. The revenue might be generated from royalties, consultation fees during various project stages, and resource facilitation, such as well-equipped working space.

School-Based Enterprise and Startup Incubation: A self-profit creation model is required for NTIC to be sustainable. KU (Dhulikhel hospital) is already producing and selling some products (cosmetics, mineral water, etc.), however, it needs to scale up at the same time. KU students’ education/ industrial excursions would improve operational capacity. School-based enterprises can be an effective model which can create profits and offer an educational venue for its professors and students.

Smart Health Technology: Poverty, low economic growth, and limited provision of medical service in Nepal have caused a formidable barrier in the healthcare sector. Along with that, urbanization in Nepal has led the disease trend from infectious diseases to non-infectious diseases(NDC) which requires comprehensive data based diagnosis and treatment such as behavioral patterns, risk factors, environmental and demographic characteristics of patient groups. 

Smart health technology, developed by the convergence of ICT and medical technology, has received attention as a solution to healthcare service weaknesses in less developed countries. The existing IT infrastructure in the Dhulikhel hospital(DH) in KU are exploring smart health technology along with the Nepali telecommunication company, NCELL which  is contracted to provide telecommunication network infrastructure and devices to establish a foundation for smart health technology while software to utilize the infra and devices is still required to be developed. 

NTIC intends to develop smart health S/W technology to utilize telecommunication infrastructure and smart devices offered by NCELL by enhancing NTIC’s capabilities in planning and managing R&BD. Smart Health Technology will  improve the quality of medical services in rural areas via health data collection and analysis.

Technology Database and Networking: Nepal Technology Innovation Centre’s vision is to be a technology innovation platform of Nepal by 2035. In order to realize this vision, it is important to create a technology database and establish global cooperative systems. One of the main goals of NTIC is to collect, analyze and evaluate technology information, R&D and policy trends in key priority areas from relevant actors of Nepal and other foreign countries.

Testing and Accreditation: The testing and accreditation unit at NTIC will serve as a supporting body for technology innovation in Nepal. There are rapidly increasing opportunities for product development, quality control, and quality assessment in Nepal but there is a lack of mechanisms such as quality control and assessment. NTIC will serve for designated quality control checks in the targeted areas. In the long run, NTIC will present itself as an international and self-operating center of testing and accreditation.

Start-up & Incubation: Job creation and incubation are necessary to lead technological innovation and the economic growth of Nepal. Idea Studio Nepal and KUSOM’s partnership will strengthen the focus to promote startup-based programs. KU needs to scale up through NTIC to deal with increasing demand for business incubation. Youth/student technology start-ups are promoted including KU students and academic staff. Business incubation is expected to contribute to strengthening capabilities in technological innovation in Nepal but also to the financial sustainability of KU-NTIC.