Nidhi Prayas Scheme @ iCreate

Call for application for prototyping projects at iCreate:

iCreate (International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology) has up to 15 openings for prototype level projects under the NIDHI-PRAYAS scheme of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. This grant will primarily be utilised by young, not so young, and aspiring innovators to convert their ideas into prototype. The period of prototyping support can be up to 18 months.

Background:
National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations (NIDHI) is an umbrella programme conceived and developed by the Innovation and Entrepreneurship division, Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, for nurturing ideas and innovations (knowledge-based and technology-driven) into successful start ups.

The NIDHI-Promotion and Acceleration of Young and Aspiring technology entrepreneurs (NIDHI-PRAYAS) program, is one of the programs introduced under NIDHI, focuses on addressing the idea to prototype funding gap. This is a program designed to attract a large number of youngsters to come forward to try out their ideas and try to see if they will work in real life business situations. If selected, such selected applicants are referred to as PRAYASEE's.

Objectives of NIDHI-PRAYAS Program:
To enable translation of an innovative idea to a prototype
To provide a platform for faster experimentation and modify approaches in the idea to market journey
To generate innovative solutions relevant to the local and global problems
To attract a large number of youth who demonstrates problem solving zeal and abilities to work on their new technology / knowledge / innovation based start ups
To enhance the pipeline in terms of quality and quantity of innovative start-ups to the incubators
To build a vibrant innovation ecosystem, by establishing a network between innovators, academia, mentors and incubators