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 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.
