India is marching towards innovation based solutions, equipped with extensive Research and Development to further strengthen efforts in a science-based, innovation ecosystem. Government is playing a vital role by pushing various initiatives to promote the spread of scientific temper amongst all sections of society. In a written reply in Lok Sabha, Union Minister of Science and Technology & Earth, Dr. Jitendra Singh explained about the initiatives that contributed to accelerating the pace of innovation in the country, as well as to encourage students/youth towards the field of science and technology.
INSPIRE: The Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research is considered as one of the major schemes to attract, motivate, nurture and train talented young minds to pursue science, inculcate scientific temperament and opt for careers in Research and Development. This scheme aimed at building a pipeline of quality manpower, thereby widening the R&D manpower base of India.
It is pertinent to note that around 52,000 young students from class 6th to 10th have been conferred the INSPIRE Award MANAK (Million Minds Augmenting National Aspiration and Knowledge) per year from recognized schools across the country. About 20,000 students per year attend INSPIRE Internship Camps to experience the joys of creative pursuit of science.
Atal Tinkering Lab: The vision of this initiative is to Cultivate 1 Million children in India as Neoteric Innovators. Some of the key objectives of this scheme includes – fostering curiosity, creativity and imagination in young minds. Further, the scheme aims at inculcating skills such as design mind-set, computational thinking, adaptive learning, physical computing, rapid calculations, measurements etc. These ATLs are equipped with the latest emerging technologies such as electronics, IoT, 3D printing, Robotics, etc. Around 9,600 ATLs have been set up in various schools of the country.
DST-NIDHI: With the view of promoting affordable and sustainable innovations in the field of science and technology, DST has launched the National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations’ (NIDHI) programme to strengthen the innovation value chain through Technology Business Incubators (TBIs). The aim of the programme is to extend support to innovators and entrepreneurs at different stages of their journey to take their innovative ideas to market and further scale up its operations.
It is highlighted by the Minister that NIDHI-PRAYAS Shala specially assists innovators in their ”idea to prototype journey” through grant funding of up to Rs. 10 lakh. Forty three PRAYAS Centres have been set up in various academic institutions to support innovators and entrepreneurs to test their ideas and make prototypes which are further developed as products and a startup.
NIF: Another step in promoting affordable & sustainable innovation in the field of science and technology, National Innovation Foundation (NIF), an autonomous institution under DST organizes a biennial National Grassroots Innovation and Outstanding Traditional Knowledge Awards and for it, common people (including youth) share their ideas and innovations. NIF provides value-addition and incubation support to the innovators so that their technologies can reach the market. NIF has also set up NIF Incubation and Entrepreneurship Council (NIFientreC), a Technology Business Incubator, for setting up and incubating commercial ventures based on innovative technologies of common people of the country.
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