National Innovation Foundation

In news : The Union Minister for Science & Technology dedicated an National Innovation Portal, developed by National Innovation Foundation (NIF) recently

Background:

There are several hundred amongst these which have been incubated by NIF over a period of time and collectively managed to generate a significant societal impact. It is also important that the inherent value proposition in such large number of innovations and traditional knowledge practices is not missed and therefore, they should constitute a database which can be made available and looked as a source of solutions by common people for practically all kind of problems where Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) can play a role. The Innovations portal of NIF is one such database of innovations and traditional knowledge by the people, for the people and of the people. It is a reflection of vast knowledge that exists in the country and should be deployed to solve a variety of problems, especially if they have a proven solution in other parts of the country

A brief note on the National Innovation Portal:

The National Innovation Portal(NIP) is currently home to about 1.15 lakh innovations scouted from common people of the country, covering Engineering, Agriculture, Veterinary and Human Health.
Areas covered under the portal: In terms of domain areas, presently the innovations cover Energy, mechanical, automobile, electrical, electronics, household, chemical, civil, textiles, Farm / cultivation practice, storage practice, plant variety, plant protection, poultry, livestock management, nutraceuticals etc.
Outstanding traditional knowledge had been known for attributes leading to wider therapeutic window and rare side effects, and many such practices which are already being used in rural parts of the country, will be a major highlight of this innovations portal
The innovations portal presents an ocean of technologies for supply to budding entrepreneurs.
The innovations portal can be an important vehicle for initiatives like “Atmanirbhar Bharat” and “Vocal for Local” where country require a right application of knowledge.
The innovations portal can be easily accessed and citizens can spend time knowing more about the technologies which are part of the database

Benefits of the portal:

Innovation Portal will help institutionalise new ideas by common people towards finding solutions to local problems.
It will create an ecosystem where the Institutions will stand behind all those who can convert their ideas and innovations into entrepreneurship
The Innovation Portal in coming days could be one of the significant contributions amongst all of our digital progress so far and would act as a bridge between people who are looking for Innovative solutions and those who had been at the helm of their evolution
Innovation Portal is a step towards Atmanirbhar Bharat and an excellent resource for students, entrepreneurs, MSME’s, Technology Business Incubators (TBI’s) and common people engaged in a variety of occupations.

About National Innovation Foundation (NIF):

Establishment: The National Innovation Foundation (NIF) – India was set up in March 2000 with the assistance of Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.
It is an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology (DST),
It is India’s national initiative to strengthen the grassroots technological innovations and outstanding traditional knowledge with a mission to help India become a creative and knowledge-based society by expanding policy and institutional space for grassroots technological innovators
Its mission is to help India become a creative and knowledge-based society by expanding policy and institutional space for grassroots technological innovators.
NIF scouts, supports and spawns’ grassroots innovations developed by individuals and local communities in any technological field, helping in human survival without any help from formal sector.
It also tries to ensure that such innovations diffuse widely through commercial and/or non-commercial channels, generating material or non-material incentives for them and others involved in the value chain.
The common people from all parts of the country are regularly sharing their ideas, innovations and traditional knowledge with NIF.
There are several hundred amongst these which have been incubated by NIF over a period of time and collectively managed to generate a significant societal impact.

Major activities and achievements of NIF:

NIF has pooled a database of over 3,22,000 technological ideas, innovations and traditional knowledge practices (not all unique, not all distinct) from over 608 districts of the country.
NIF has till date recognised 1093 grassroots innovators and school students at the national level in its various National Biennial Grassroots Innovation Award Functions and annual Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Ignite Children Award functions.
In collaboration with various research & development (R&D) and academic institutions, agricultural & veterinary universities and others institutions, NIF has helped in getting several hundred grassroots technologies validated and/or value added.
It has also set up an augmented Fabrication Laboratory (Fab Lab) for product development and strengthening in-house research.
It has filed about 1200 patents, including eight filed in the USA and 28 Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications, on behalf of the innovators and outstanding traditional knowledge holders. Of these, 184 patents have been granted in India and 5 in the USA.
NIF has filed 24 Design registrations (of which 20 are granted) for innovations of the grassroots and student innovators. In addition to this 10 trade mark applications have also been filed, of which 7 have been granted.
It has also filed applications for 74 plant varieties developed by farmers at the Protection of Plant Varieties & Farmers’ Rights Authority. Of these, 13 have successfully been registered.
Micro Venture Innovation Fund (MVIF) at NIF, with support from Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), has provided risk capital to 230 innovation based enterprise projects, some of which are at different stages of incubation.
NIF has proved that Indian innovators can match anyone in the world when it comes to solving problems creatively. They perform better than others in generating greater sustainable alternatives by using local resources frugally.
The grassroots to global (G2G) model that NIF is propagating is all set to change the way the world looks at creativity and innovations at/from grassroots.
The INSPIRE Award – MANAK (Million Minds Augmenting National Aspiration and Knowledge) is being revamped and executed by Department of Science & Technology and National Innovation Foundation-India to align it with the action plan for “Start-up India” initiative launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India.
The scheme aims to help build a critical human resource pool for strengthening, expand science and technology system and increase the research & development base on the same by inviting students from all government and private schools throughout the country and enabling them to send their original & creative technological ideas/innovations on the same.