Startup centres worth Rs.150 crore

If a company partners with a startup, then the Department of Science and Technology (DST) will also partner with it and extend a matching grant to help the partnership scale up, assured DST Secretary Prof. Ashutosh Sharma.

Speaking at the ‘Awards Ceremony – India Innovation Growth Programme (IIGP) 2.0′ on 17 July 2019, Prof. Sharma also said that the department may take the decision on providing a matching grant to the successful startup in a month or two.

“If industry is partnering with a startup putting an X amount of money, depending on the plans and other things, then DST will also partner and probably would put a matching amount of money in that startup,” he said, adding the challenge for startups is to scale up and transition into stable businesses.

The government is coming up with startup centres worth Rs.150 crore each to help the startups access the resources, especially hardware, he announced.

Three centres will be launched this year, followed by 3-4 centres per year, thus creating a total of 20 such centres, he disclosed.

The India Innovation Growth Programme (IIGP) 2.0, a tripartite initiative of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Lockheed Martin and Tata Trusts have named the winners of the 2019 edition of the annual IIGP 2.0 on 17 July 2019.

The winners were chosen from over 2,400 applicants who presented innovations that aim to bring large scale social impact and industrial transformation in India.

Sixteen start-ups from the annual Open Innovation Challenge and 20 university teams from the University Challenge each received grants of Rs.25 Lakh and Rs.10 Lakh, respectively, to enable the evolution and maturation of their technology solutions proposals.

Prof. Sharma further urged the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) to scale up the IIGP by doubling the size of the programme, which awarded 20 University Challenge winners and 16 Open Innovation Challenge winners this year.

The innovations identified for award this year were evaluated by a panel of jurors which include IIGP 2.0 stakeholders and implementation partners as well as external experts from the innovation, science, technology and entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Implementation partners include FICCI, Indo-US Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF), Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) at IIM Ahmedabad and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.

The applicants, which came from across the nation as well as a range of educational institutions, offered a breadth and variety of excellent innovations to evaluate.

They also join a cohort of over 7,000 applicants from the past three years of IIGP 2.0 in submitting innovations for consideration by the IIGP 2.0 Panel of Jurors.

Phil Shaw, Chief Executive of Lockheed Martin in India, said, “The talent pool and potential for positive change through technology in India, from India, for India and the world, is immense as we witnessed this year during the judging process.

“We perceive it is our collective civic duty to the ingenious scientists, innovators and leaders of tomorrow to be a catalyst for their growth. Lockheed Martin is proud to be a pioneering member of IIGP since 2007 and continues to support and celebrate the culture of courage and innovation in India and bring to life some of these clearly valuable technology solutions.”

Manoj Kumar, Head, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Tata Trusts & CEO, Social Alpha said, “Through the India Innovation Growth Programme, we continue to build on Tata Trusts’ legacy of promoting science and technology innovations in India to create a positive impact on society.

“We want to support promising, mission-driven entrepreneurs who are solving some of the most complex developmental challenges. We are proud to announce the winning innovations and envisage these impactful solutions to play an important role in India’s next phase of growth and development.”

The purpose of IIGP 2.0 is to encourage, identify, support and incubate the technology solutions devised by ingenious local start-ups and university teams that seek to solve complex challenges.

The grants seek to enable their prototyping the proposed technology solutions and begin the process of evaluating and applying these technologies and solutions for social, commercial and industrial benefit.

In 2017, 19 teams were awarded grants while in 2018, 31 teams were awarded, demonstrating increasing depth and quality of innovations proposed. This year’s applicants submitted proposals in 14 and 19 focus areas for the two parallel tracks that IIGP2.0 has identified, respectively. These are the University Challenge and Open Innovation Challenge.

Past awardees include: IIGP 2.0 alumni Sastra Robotics which has gone on to secure partnerships with international organizations and is already in process of being embedded in global supply chains; and FIB-SOL Life Technologies, a Chennai-basedstart-up in the agricultural sector which has successfully commercialized their fertilizer-carrying membrane and is operational in three states in India.

NoPo Nano Technologies P Ltd, Sastra Technologies P Ltd and Terero Mobility Pvt Ltd have signed MoUs with Lockheed Martin for helping them scale-up.

List of Open Innovation Challenge Winners 2019:

1. Astrogate Labs Pvt. Ltd.
2. Ayu Devices Pvt. Ltd.
3. BeAble Health Pvt. Ltd.
4. BiolMed Innovations Pvt. Ltd.
5. BNG Spray Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
6. C Electric Automotive Drives Pvt. Ltd.
7. CogniABle (SM Learning Skills Academy for Special Needs Pvt. Ltd.)
8. CyCa Oncosolutions Pvt. Ltd.
9. Kanpur Flowercycling Pvt. Ltd.
10. Nubewell Networks Pvt. Ltd.
11. Ossus Biorenewables
12. Tan90 Thermal Solution Private Limited (IIT Madras)
13. Terero Mobility Pvt. Ltd.
14. Unbox Robotics Labs Pvt. Ltd.
15. Varta Labs Pvt. Ltd.
16. Vidcare Innovations Pvt. Ltd.

-/fiinews.com