NIDHI Program

About NIDHI Program

 

• 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: To nurture start-ups through scouting, supporting and scaling innovations.
• Key stakeholders: 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.
• Funding: By the National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB).

 

Key Components of the NIDHI Program

• 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.
• NIDHI Entrepreneurs-In-Residence (EIR) Program provides fellowships to the students opting for entrepreneurship.
• The NIDHI Seed Support Program provisions 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.

 

---

Q1) What is Incubators?

Incubators, in the context of business and startups, are organizations or programs that support early-stage companies to grow and develop. These incubators provide various resources, such as mentorship, office space, funding opportunities, and networking connections, to help startups succeed.

Source: Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh says, NIDHI (National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing innovations) program under DST has various components to support innovations, startups and startup incubation ecosystem in the country