Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII) in coordination with Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India, will take up over 2,000 innovative projects in Science & Technology (S&T) over the next three years.

Students from over 40 institutions across India, including the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, ITS Engineering College, Indian Institute of Information Technology, will be encouraged to explore the commercial possibility of these projects.

Under the New Generation Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Centre (NewGen IEDC), a programme launched by National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), DST will provide funding to these projects with the aim to boost innovation and entrepreneurship among the young S&T students.

NewGen IEDC was announced in 2017-18 and about 400 projects from 25 academic institutions have already been supported so far.

Supporting innovation

SB Sareen, Project Director & Co-Member Secretary, DST NewGen IEDC, said, “The major objective behind launching this programme is to motivate and encourage those students who take up projects during their internship, but fail to take it forward due to various constraints including funding. Through this support by DST, we aim to take up those ideas that have high degree of innovation and commercial viability as well as mentor students to lead a possible start-up.”

A maximum of twenty projects would be supported in a year. “Over the last few years, students are opting out of deferring campus placements to give a chance to their dream projects. However, despite being innovative and commercially viable, some projects do not get converted into business plans as these students lack the support from the ecosystem,” he said.

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