The funding program was determined by Indian Railways and Innovators on an equivalent cost-sharing basis (50:50).
Rlys will invest Rs 50 annually in startups; Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on June 13 (PTI) Indian Railways will invest more than Rs 50 crore per year to fund startups, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Monday, added that, unlike other partnerships, the intellectual property rights (IPR) for the innovation will remain with the innovator.
Under the Indian Railways Innovation Policy, railways have made a good start by investing in startups and procuring innovation directly from startups, up to Rupees 1.5 crores for innovative technology solutions for national transporters.
The Policy is not just about ideas. After proof of concept, Indian Railways will follow up and scale it up to the product, double the support of the grant, and finally use the successfully developed product/technology regularly for 2-3 years.
“The annual budget for the policy will be around Rs 40-50 crore and an additional fund for the divisional railway managers so that they can find on-field solutions to on-field problems. Also, the IPR will remain with innovator,” the railway minister told the media while launching the policy formally.
“Great innovative solutions may churn and many technological challenges can be resolved if startups collaborate with Indian Railways. We have launched an innovation programme under Startup India today and undertook 11 common problems to resolve,” Vaishnaw said.
He said that throughout the development process, railroad field workers, RDSOs, zones and railroad committee staff will provide ongoing support and join hands with innovators.
In May, the field unit was asked to provide the problem area. As a response to this, about 160 problems have occurred so far. The minister first said that 11 issues were identified that were addressed through the new innovation policy and uploaded to the website.
These include a damaged rail detection system, rail tension monitoring system, rail inspection technology for accurate inspection, and excellent elastic pads for large freight cars.
Also, salt, track cleaners, apps for post-training revisions and self-service review courses, remote sensing, geographic information, use of GIS or bridge inspection, and digital data to improve passenger transport.
Eligible organizations or beneficiaries of support include Indian companies established under the Companies Act of 1956/2013, the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), primarily defined by the MSME Act of 2006, and individual innovators. included. This policy also encourages R & D organizations to apply for grants.
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