The proposal for running a Scouting Program may be submitted by a TBI with a minimum 3 years of experience of running at least one program of national / regional scale of promoting entrepreneurship (including accelerator or entrepreneur development program).
Funding Agency: Department of Science & Technology (DST), Govt of India
Area(s): Physical Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Life Sciences & Biotechnology, Earth, Atmosphere & Environment Sciences, Engineering Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Traditional Knowledge, Agricultural Sciences, Medical Sciences, Astronomy & Space Sciences, Computer Sciences and Information Technology, Other Areas
Financial Incentives: i) Operations Budget - The Operations Budget shall include manpower, logistics, travel, mentoring, infrastructure, training and all other program costs. The NSTEDB?s contribution towards the Operations Budget for a National Program shall not exceed Rs. 4 crores and that for a Regional Program shall not exceed Rs. 1.5 crores. ii) Seed-Fund Budget ? In addition to the Operations Budget, based on the structure of the program, NSTEDB shall consider providing funds for providing seed-fund support to the applicants of the Scouting Program. NSTEDB will consider a maximum of Rs 5 lacs prototyping grant per winner and a maximum of Rs 50 lacs seed-funding support per winner to the top applicants of the Scouting Programs. In their application, the TBIs must mention the number of startups they expect to provide prototyping grants and seed-fund support.
Time Period: NSTEDB will consider support of up to 2 Accelerators every year
Institution(s) involved: Department of Science & Technology (DST), Govt. of India
Overview: NSTEDB believes that going forward such nation-wide as well as regional programs should actively involve all the TBIs supported by the Government of India. These guidelines are aimed at encouraging the TBIs to undertake large-scale innovation scouting programs tilted NIDHI-Grand Challenges and Competition (NIDHI-GCC), which will strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem as well as deliver immense value to other TBIs. NIDHI-GCC is a pre-incubation activity targeted mainly at scouting of innovations for building a pipeline for the TBIs. NIDHI-GCC targets large number of innovators.
