NEW DELHI, December 29 : Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today said that beginning from 1st January, 2023, National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) will undertake Technology Commercialisation for benefit of StartUps. Established in 1953, National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) is a Section 8 Enterprise of the Government of India playing a pivotal role in bridging the R&D and Industry. Presiding over a meeting with CMD, NRDC and Senior Officials at CSIR Centre in New Delhi, Dr Jitendra Singh said, since inception, NRDC has concluded more than 5000 license agreements representing technologies in almost all industry sectors. The Minister said, it has also facilitated in filing over 2000 patents in India. Dr Jitendra Singh said, NRDC assists the Inter-Ministerial Board (IMB) of DPIIT for technically evaluating Start-ups for their recognition to avail benefits extended by Government of India and till date over 7500 applications of Start-ups have been assessed. Dr Jitendra Singh said, NRDC is also associated with Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) for implementation of their Start-up Scheme from identification of start-ups and hand-holding to product launch. The Minister also pointed out that NRDC has entered into an MoU with The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) for mentoring and monitoring export oriented Agri-based Start-ups. Dr Jitendra Singh also informed that Technology Development, Validation and Commercialization Program (TDVC) program is a Grant-in-Aid Scheme for providing financial support to start-ups, incubatees and MSMEs who focus on problem statements of the Indian society and manufacturing industry in the brick & mortar economy. Chairman & Managing Director of NRDC, Commodore Amit Rastogi (Retd) informed Dr Jitendra Singh that the technologies acquired by NRDC from various R&D sources get transformed through value addition and are offered to industries for commercial exploitation. He said that the technology transfer is facilitated by NRDC and the R&D organization to the industry for a consideration which forms the core revenue stream of NRDC. Shri Rastogi also informed that NRDC provides seed funding against equity to eligible technology-based start-ups incubated in State/Central Government incubators. The start-ups have to demonstrate innovative and technology intensive development with strong commercial value. DG, CSIR, Dr N. Kalaiselvi said that NRDC is playing an important role in Nation Building, as it has established wide network of linkages with national and international scientific & technological agencies, industries, industrial associations, state & central Government Departments, STPs and incubators. NRDC has taken up several initiatives to support and encourage the StartUp ecosystem in the Country.
With this objective, NRDC has established and has started to manage incubation centers to nurture technology driven start-ups for maturation into commercial ventures. a) NRDC Incubation Centre: The Corporation has created a physical and virtual space for incubating eight start-ups each who are working on novel solutions in the manufacturing industry space. These start-ups are being provided mentoring and hand-holding services, subsidized facilities for testing and fabrication at various networked laboratories, funding against equity, certification of incubation, Office and Conference facilities, etc. b) mach33.aero: mach33.aero is a highly specialized start-up incubation facility created at CSIR-NAL Campus at Bengaluru in collaboration with CSIR-NAL and Foundation for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurs (FISE), Bengaluru (An initiative supported by Tata Trust) which was established and inaugurated in December 2021. This incubation facility encourages incubation of start-ups in the Aerospace and allied industry sectors. c) Innovative Technology Enabling Center (InTEC): InTEC is a start-up incubation facility created at CSRI-IMMT Campus at Bhubaneswar which is now managed by the Corporation. This facility is for encouraging incubation of start-ups working in the area of materials, mining and allied industry sectors.
