NIDHI – PRAYAS Program

“Prototyping is a key milestone for any innovator in their journey of building a startup”

    To make prototyping easy and affordable for innovators with limited or no financial backing, we provide incubation & prototype funding support to enable the faster translation of an innovative idea into a prototype with emerging technology/ knowledge/ innovation for startups. A NIDHI-PRomotion and Acceleration of Young and Aspiring technology entrepreneur (NIDHI-PRAYAS) – Support from Idea to Prototype is the scheme under NIDHI aimed at addressing the gap in the very early stage of an idea/proof of concept funding. Deshpande Startups has been one of the approved NIDHI-PRAYAS centres by DST, Govt of India, since March 2020. We invite Students/Graduates/Professionals,/Startups with innovative ideas to apply for a prototyping grant under the NIDHI PRAYAS, an umbrella program of the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, for nurturing ideas and innovations in the domains of knowledge-based and technology-driven into successful startups.

NIDHI – PRAYAS Program:

  • National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations (NIDHI) aims to nurture startups through scouting, supporting, and scaling innovations.
  • The NIDHI-PRomotion and Acceleration of Young and Aspiring technology entrepreneurs (NIDHI-PRAYAS) program focus on addressing the idea of the prototype funding gap. The emphasis is to foster indigenously developed innovations and products in alignment with the nation’s “Atma Nirbhar Bharat Mission”. This program would attract a large number of youngsters to come forward to try out their ideas without actually worrying about failure.
  • NIDHI-PRAYAS is positioned as a pre-incubation initiative. DST aims to promote up to 10 PRAYAS Centres in incubators every year for the next few years.
  • PRAYAS scheme will pick up startups that are at the initiation stage and will provide them with funding support, mentorship, and a lot of other support that is required by startups at this stage.
  • The scheme will provide support to startups with a funding maximum of Rs 10.00 Lakh.
  • The scheme heralds a very important milestone in our journey toward building confidence in our startup community.
  • For more information, visit: www.nidhi-prayas.org

Objectives of NIDHI PRAYAS:

  • To enable the translation of an innovative idea to a prototype.
  • To provide a platform for faster experimentation and modify approaches in the idea-to-market journey.
  • To indigenously generate innovative solutions relevant to local and global problems.
  • To attract a large number of youth who demonstrates problem-solving zeal and abilities to work on their new technology/knowledge/innovation-based startups.
  • To enhance the pipeline in terms of quality and quantity of innovative startups to the incubators.
  • To build a vibrant innovation ecosystem, by establishing a network between innovators, academia, mentors, and incubators.

Domains Focus Area:

1.Life Sciences

  • Bio-Pharma
  • Bio-Energy
  • Bio-Services
  • Bio-Industry
  • Med-Tech
  • Agri-Tech

2.Industry 4.0

  • AI, IoT, ML
  • AR/VR Cloud Computing
  • Automation
  • Simulation Integration
  • BIG Data
  • Cyber Security
  • Robotics

3.Smart & Clean Mobility

  • Drone Technology
  • Smart & Non Fossil Fuel
  • Vehicles
  • Electric Vehicles
  • EV Battery Management
  • Autonomous Navigation

Eligibility

  • PRAYAS support is in the form of a grant which will be a maximum of up to Rs.10 lakhs.
  • PRAYAS applications will be subject to the Decision of the committee members of the PC where the innovator has applied. The decision of approval or rejection or reduced amount by the committee shall remain final and binding on the innovator.
  • The applicant will be fully committed to working towards the prototype development for which the support is being sought with the intention of commercialization.
  • The project duration is 18 months. The prototype has to be completed within a maximum of 18 months from receiving the first tranche of the grant.
  • For incomplete projects, PRAYASEE must return the unutilized amount of the grant.
  • If the innovator has already started a venture, Innovators should assign the IP ownership right to the startups.
  • Innovators or Startup teams cannot use NIDHI PRAYAS Support more than once nor from more than one Centre. Innovators shall also not be supported in parallel under NIDHI-EIR and NIDHI-PRAYAS. Innovators will give a declaration at the time of making the application indicating that they have not received support under NIDHIPRAYAS for the same idea or NIDHI-EIR.

How to Apply:

  • CIIC announces the call for NIDHI PRAYAS.
  • All applicants for NIDHI PRAYAS support grant will apply by filling online application form and upload the scan of the application.
  • The selection of the NIDHI PRAYAS support grantees shall be done by CIIC through a screening committee and certain qualifying criteria’s.
  • The shortlisted candidates have to present their project proposal in front of the Project Monitoring Committee.
  • The selected Prayasee shall be informed by the CIIC

Call for Application:

  • Call Open: 20th May 2023 to 30th June 2023       Apply Now: Click Here 

 

For Further Information:

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