NIDHI Programme:
The Union Minister of Science and Technology virtually inaugurated 8 new NIDHI i-TBIs across India along with a new DST-NIDHI Website at IIT Delhi celebrating 8 years of the Department of Science and Technology’s initiative (DST-NIDHI).
- The National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations (NIDHI) program was launched in 2016.
- It is an umbrella programme conceived and developed by the Innovation & Entrepreneurship division, Department of Science & Technology.
- Aim is to nurture start-ups through scouting, supporting and scaling innovations.
- Various departments and ministries of the central government, state governments, academic and R&D institutions, mentors, financial institutions, angel investors, venture capitalists and private sectors.
- It is funded by the National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB).
- The NIDHI- PRAYAS(Promoting and Accelerating Young and Aspiring Innovators and Startups) program at Proof-of-Concept level provides mentoring and financial support to innovator for converting their ideas into prototypes.
- The NIDHI Entrepreneurs-In-Residence(EIR) Program provides fellowships to the students opting for entrepreneurship.
- The NIDHI Seed Support Programprovisions availability of early-stage seed support funding to startups and the NIDHI Accelerator program speeds up the investment readiness of the startups.
- The NIDHI program has been helpful in creating state-of-the-art infrastructure for incubating startups in technology sectors through Technology Business Incubators (TBIs) and Centres of Excellence (CoE).
- NIDHI Accelerator:An accelerator is typically a 3-6 months fast track structured program helping ideas get accelerated to the next orbit.
i-Technology Business Incubators (i-TBIs):
- i-TBIs (Inclusive TBI) is a three-year duration initiative supported by DST for educational institutions that are likely to foster innovation and entrepreneurship culture among the students, faculties, entrepreneurs and nearby communities.
