FUNDING OPPORTUNITY
National Research Development Corporation (NRDC), an enterprise of Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt. Of India has launched a scheme to support researchers and innovators to scale-up their lab-scale technologies to commercial-scale for combating COVID-19.
The financial support will be in the form of grant-in-aid up to Rs 10 lakh. Higher amount can also be considered for deserving proposals having high impact. The financial assistance is for value addition such as scaling up, prototype development, market testing of the prototype, generating data required by regulatory authorities and certification, etc.
The focus areas are eco-friendly sanitisers, rapid test kits, PPEs, ventilators, medicines and vaccines. Research laboratories, universities, startups, and MSMEs can apply for this grant. NRDC has also brought out a compendium on Indian technologies for combating COVID -19. Most of these technologies are proof-of-concept (POC) tested and would help the entrepreneurs to take the product to market faster as they do not have to reinvent the wheel.
Startups/Entrepreneurs who would like to commercialise their POC tested technologies, can use this grant for that purpose. The last date for applying on prescribed form is 15.5.2020
