Promotion of Innovation
Various Government Ministries/Departments viz.
Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Department of Science and
Technology (DST), Department of Bio-technology (DBT), NITI Aayog and Ministry
of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) have launched schemes for
promotion of innovation. The details of such schemes are:
- Department of Science & Technology has
launched a NIDHI program (National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing
Innovations) under which programmes for setting up of incubators, seed fund,
accelerators and ‘Proof of concept’ grant for innovators and entrepreneurs have
been launched. Under NIDHI, PRAYAS (Promoting and Accelerating Young and
Aspiring innovators & Startups) programme has been initiated in which
established Technology Business Incubators (TBI) are supported with PRAYAS
grant to support innovators and entrepreneurs with grants for ‘Proof of
Concept’ and developing prototypes. A maximum grant of Rs. 220 lakh is given to
a TBI for establishing a PRAYAS Centre which includes Rs.100 lakh for PRAYAS
SHALA, Rs. 20 lakh for operational cost of PRAYAS Centre and maximum of Rs. 10
lakh to one innovator for developing prototype. Funding for ten innovators is
given to the TBI in a year.
- To boost entrepreneurial spirit in India, the
Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), a flagship initiative of NITI Aayog, is
supporting two programs for setting up and scaling up of incubation centres.
The Atal Incubation Centres (AICs) scheme supports setting up of green field
incubation centres that nurture innovative start-up businesses in their pursuit
to become scalable and sustainable enterprises. The Established Incubation
Centres scheme provides scale-up support to well performing existing incubation
centres, referred to as Established Incubation Centers (EICs), where AIM
intends to further augment their performance by providing them scale-up
support. In both of these schemes, AIM is providing grants of upto INR 10
Crores over a period of 3-5 years.
Ministry of Electronics & Information
Technology (MeitY), Government of India has taken various initiatives and
measures to encourage entrepreneurs to develop indigenous products in
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) domain and also improve
innovation-led ecosystem with scheme and programmes to support researchers,
start-ups and MSMEs. Technology Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurs
(TIDE) Scheme was put in place by MeitY in 2008 to promote innovation by
nurturing startups in Information Technology, Communications & Electronics
(ICTE) domain. Under the TIDE Scheme, financial assistance is provided to
Institutions of Higher Learning to strengthen their Technology Incubation Centres
for enabling young entrepreneurs to create technology startup companies for
commercial exploitation of technologies developed by them. Enhanced version
Technology Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurs (TIDE 2.0) Scheme is to
promote tech entrepreneurship through financial and technical support to
incubators engaged in supporting ICT startups using emerging technologies such
as Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Block-chain,
Robotics etc.
- Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance
Council (BIRAC), A Public Sector Undertaking of Department of Biotechnology
(DBT) has been promoting incubators in biotechnology sector for innovative idea
through the following programmes:
- i) BIRAC BioNEST (BIRAC Bio-incubation:
Nurturing Entrepreneurs for Scaling up Technology): BIRAC’s Flagship programme
which creates / supports world-class bio-incubators for startups/ entrepreneurs
to provide incubation space, mentor networks, instrumentation facilities, IP
and technology management support.
- 1. ii) SEED(Sustaining Enterprise and
Entrepreneurship Development) Fund: Equity basedfunding support of up to Rs. 30
Lakh to startups and enterprises through bio-incubators for scaling up.
- LEAP (Launching Entrepreneurial Driven Affordable
Products Fund for Start-ups) Fund: Equity based funding support of up to Rs 1
Cr to startups and enterprises implemented through Incubators for scaling
enterprises.
- Ministry of Human Resource Development is
setting up Incubation centers/Research Parks in the institutions of higher
learning independently or in conjunction with DBT and DST. Further, DST and
MHRD have jointly taken up initiative for establishment of Research Parks,
Technology Business Incubators and Startup Centres. The objective of setting up
Research Parks is to propel successful innovation through incubation and joint
Research and Development (R&D) efforts between academia and industry.
Further, through Ucchatar Avishkar Yojana(UAY) Government aims to make students
more accustomed with the outer world and give them market-oriented mind set.
No specific proposal to invite foreign
investments to promote innovation in the country is under consideration of
Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. However, Government has put in
place an investor- friendly policy, wherein except for a small negative list,
most sectors are open for 100% FDI under the Automatic route including
innovation / R&D, subject to applicable laws/ regulations; security and
other conditionalities.
Further, to attract foreign investments in the country, and showcase its diverse market and transformative technology innovations to the Investors across the world, DPIIT organized the Startup India Global Venture Capital Summit on 6th and 7th December 2018, bringing together over 250 participants from over 20 countries across the globe. The dialogue focused on the huge return-generating potential of India’s vast and diverse market monetized through cutting-edge technologies supported by investor-friendly regulations. Multiple sessions and Roundtables were organized for foreign investors with the concerned government stakeholders to understand and solve for the regulatory and policy challenges faced for investments in India.
This information was given by the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.