About NIDHI - PRAYAS
National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations (NIDHI) is an umbrella programme conceived and developed by the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India, for nurturing ideas and innovations (knowledge-based and technology-driven) into successful start-ups.
Under this initiative, DST has launched NIDHI – Promoting and Accelerating Young and Aspiring innovators & start-ups (NIDHI-PRAYAS) program. The program caters to idea-stage entrepreneurs with a physical product offering, who require support for prototyping. Under this scheme, the innovators will be facilitated with access to physical infrastructure, technical guidance, fabrication labs, networking, business mentorship etc.
VIT Technology Business Incubator is a PRAYAS Centre under the scheme managed by the Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE) IIT Bombay, which will act as a Program Management Unit (PMU) of the PRAYAS program.
The lack of support for early stage prototyping in the country has been the cause for many innovators to lose interest in their ventures and there is a definite need to address the gap in the very early stage of idea formation, associated technology development, proof of concept, prototyping, IPR etc.
With NIDHI PRAYAS, young entrepreneurs will have support to develop their technology prototype/product and will be able to approach incubators for scale up and commercialization support. Hence all selected NIDHI-PRAYAS applicants to the VITTBI PRAYAS Centre will be considered for support under the Pre-incubation / Business Incubation support at VITTBI based on the maturity of the idea and execution capability of the applicant.
NIDHI PRAYAS program will provide funding support for converting innovative ideas into prototypes.
Objectives
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To facilitate the conversion of an innovative idea to a Prototype (i2P).
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To support in the idea to Market (i2M) journey by providing platforms for prototyping and experimentation that can help make modifications and course corrections in the approaches.
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To encourage and generate innovative solutions that can address national and global challenges faced by the society.
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To attract new and more number of technology/knowledge/ innovation based product start-ups.
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To create a feeder of technology start-ups to the incubation program.
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Establishing a network between innovators, academia, mentors and incubators, NIDHI PRAYAS is expected to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Benefits
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Grant up to Rs.10 lakhs for converting his/ her innovative idea into prototype within 18 months.
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Access to infrastructure, prototype development facility and strategic mentorship.
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Shared common facilities & Co-working space
Who Can Apply ?
- Individual innovator: He/She is required to be Indian Citizen at least 18 years of age as on date of application. An Indian citizen is defined as one who is in possession of a government approved proof of nationality such as a valid passport, voter’s id etc.
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Team of individual innovator: If the team wants to pursue the project, then there has to be an agreement among the team about the lead applicant and the lead applicant have to apply for NIDHI-prayas. The financial support (after the selection process) will be given to the lead applicant on behalf of the team.
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Existing incubatee of VITTBI or other incubators (under co-incubation scheme):- The period of existence of the Startup and its operations should not exceed 7 years from the Date of Incorporation. The Startup should be involved in the development of a prototype for a new product, for which they should not have received similar kind of support. The annual turnover should not have exceeded Rs. 25 lakhs for any of the financial year since its inception.
Priority
- Preference may be given to those innovators
- Who have bootstrapped or have got co-investment commitment.
- Who have clear road map for commercialization or start up creation.
- Women innovators
- Young innovators
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The maximum support can be provided per innovator/incubatee is upto Rs. 10 lakhs.
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If the innovator is pursuing to build a prototype from their institute/organization IP, then in that case innovator will take NOC from the appropriate authority of their institute/organisation for use/IP transfer / ownership in favour of the innovator/startup.
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If the applicant is studying /working in an institute/organization, they should get a no objection certificate from that respective institute/organization for applying to NIDHI PRAYAS.
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The NIDHI-PRAYAS grantee should be registered for the pre-incubation or incubation program at the TBI for the entire duration of the program, after going through the TBI’s selection process.
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NIDHI-PRAYAS grantee should be fully committed to work towards the prototype development for which the support is being sought and should not treat this as a stop gap arrangement to support any other pursuits.
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The innovator can avail the NIDHI-PRAYAS support only once and they should not have sought the similar support previously, from other Government of India organisation/Institution for the same innovative concept as proposed in the application form.
Grant Will Not Support
Student applicants pursuing long term research projects like doctoral research projects or similar projects will not be supported
Professors or Academicians engaged in teaching with any academic or R&D institute who do not have the necessary NOC on IP and are not granted sufficient time to work on PRAYAS project from their respective organisation / institution
The projects relating to software development and those involving pure academic research are not eligible.
NIDHI-PRAYAS grant cannot, however, be used for supporting-
- Any institute/organization (not being a start-up organization) to develop and IP into Prototype.
- Any innovator working/pertaining to an institute/ organization for converting their IP into prototype.
- Any idea which is part of academic research work carried out at the institute/personal level.
- Any idea that is developed into prototype where the IP could vest with any institute/organization.
Focus Areas
Beneficiaries supported under PRAYAS
MRUTYUNJAYA SAHU
Manoeuvring Aeration System for enhancing water quality of waterbodies
ANMOL SAXENA
Fitknees-Intelligent wearable knee device for prevention and rehabilitation of knee injuries
CHARMI PABARI
Portable Hand Muscle Training Module – aid in motor relearning & giving mobility to stroke patient
ABHINAV GUPTA
CamCann Smart Systems -smart edge computing device to solve the current problems in security
GOUTHAM REDDY
Electric vehicle with on board power generation
HARIHARAN
Symbionic - A customizable, intuitive and affordable electro mechanical arm for trans-humeral amputees
PRANAV KUMAR
Athena -a Text-to-Braille/voice device
RAVI KIRAN MANAPURAM
In vivo and Invitro fast Tissue Scanner (TissueXaner) for dermatology applications
VENKATAKRISHNAN
Development of Cognitive technology to facilitate effective clinical decision-making and service deliver
PRANJAL MEHTA
“Ek Hanz” Autonomous Aerial Hybrid vehicles
ABHIJIT NATH
Automated panipuri vending machines
V. HARISH
Making baked goods from Beer spent grain
KARNA PATEL
Developing waterproof wearable Insulin Injectors
T.GEETHA
Developing probiotic enriched millet based ready to eat fermented products
PIYUSH BHANU
Developing food intolerance test kits
SAURABH AGARWAL
Construction of paver blocks using waste plastic materials
SENTHIL RAJENDRAN
Creating IC packaging ceramic material from coal fly-ash
SHIVANG SINGH SLATHIA
Developing wearable smart apparel with water/stain repellent, antimicrobial, UV resistant, breathable and wrinkle-free properties
TANMAY M PRASAD
Farm Automation and automatic nutrient dosing system for hydroponic farming
RAJESH SURA
Developing commercially viable E-Mobility Charging Infrastructure
M.S.SUDARSAN
Developing a technology that uses a liquid desiccant air conditioning system for seed storage
M. JAYASINDU
Personalized Chewing Gums as an after-food balancing nutritional punch to help counter doshas
SALOMI DABRAL
Developing an automated maneuverable device for extracting larger quantity of biomass from water bodies
SURYA M RAJENDRAN
Developing portable units for dentist sto help set up dental clinics with necessary instruments.
S.GOMATHINAYAGAM
Developing IoT based shake flasks for bio-pharmaceutical industries, educational institutes and research laboratories.
PRAKHARVAISHNAV
Building COVID-Free Micro Offices to unlock safe work in INDIA’s offices
ABANIS NAYAK
Low Pain Prick: Developing a stand-alone non-chemical based Topical Anaesthetic Inducer (TAI) appliance
ADHARSH.G
Virtual reality device that will aid in the treatment, training and special education of children with autism
ARTH CHOWDHARY
Building custom Ready- to- Fly FPV Drones
ANUP.TV
Efficient mass degradation of segregated organic Municipal Solid Waste(MSW) and bioremediation of MSW leachate eluted from conventional bin composting, using Hermetia illucens
AZAM ALI
A hand-held device that connects to smartphone enabling more reliable and efficient tele-consultations by streaming real time prognostic data
KAVYA NS
Producing Non-dairy specialty food for Geriatric
KISHORE S
Development of noninvasive portable nano sensing array for Early detection of ovarian cancer using
NITHEESH P
Fabrication of Natural Fiber Extraction Machine
RAGHUL SENTHILNATHAN
Development of compact & highly affordable smart fluorescent cell imager
RAJA RAJAN
Producing spray dried powder rich in omega 3 fatty acid from blended oils that can be applied in food and poultry industry
PRABU.G
Three-wheeled EV for last mile hyper local delivery service
SAYANTANI BASU
Hologram Communication device which creates see-through 3D in-air display of an image or video.
VARSHINI RAM
A novel system for swarm of co-axial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for collaborative lifting with extended flight time and modularity
SARTHAK VAISHNAV
Underwater Ship Hull Cleaning Robot
NAMAN GUPTA
Functional autonomous golf cart that can be operated in an airport environment
MR.PREMNIVASH M
Smart Stick with a guide band for the visually challenged
DR.S. VIDHYA
Autonomous portable CPR Machine
MERLIN KM
Robotic workstation for upper limb neurological rehabilitation
MAHESH LONDHE
Millet Disinfestation Unit
KUMAR VIKAS KHADTALE
On-demand H2 generation
DR. SATYA PRABHA
Pocket transabdominal ultrasound biofeedback device - A Non-invasive pelvic floor trainer
DINESHA B S
Management of thrips in chilli using organic compounds
HARIHARAN MUTHUSAMY
Ceramic based Dielectric Barrier Discharge(DBD) Ozone Generator for Wastewater treatment
MOHANRAJ RAJAMANICKAM
Light and “IFT” embedded knee brace with smart controller for effective pain management
BALAJI MARISAMY
Dropbots Tech Pvt. Ltd. S - Drone Station to operate multiple drones from a single location using GIS, GPS and ML-powered UAV Air traffic control and safety landing pad system.
SHRI VISHAAL V
Innovative Methodologies and higher efficiency cathode material production from Li battery waste
HIMADRI DAS MOHAPATRA
Innovative early asymptomatic Cardiovascular disorder detection kit, which allows for prompt medical intervention