CSR Grant for Sustainable Ingredients/Materials for Feed, Food and Nutrition

Aims

• Kemin Industries South Asia Pvt Ltd – Venture Center CSR Collaboration aims to support entrepreneurs/start ups working on technologies with potential social impact.

Objectives

• To support technology incubation and technology entrepreneurs associated with Venture Center, an incubator approved by the Central Government (DST-NSTEDB and DBT – BIRAC of Ministry of Science and Technology).
• Promote innovation of modern/advanced technologies to socio-economic problem solving

Focus Areas

• Sustainable ingredients/materials for feed, food and nutrition

Scope

• Kemin CSR Grant will enable an entrepreneur/startup to conduct Proof of concept (POC) studies/prototype development or prototype validation and adoption of appropriate technologies to address social needs.
• Without limiting scope unduly, the projects and technology entrepreneurs chosen shall be:
  • Focused on a leveraging science and technology/inventions
  • Focused on building a sustainable and scalable entrepreneurial venture
  • Theme of sustainable ingredients/materials for feed, food and nutrition
• There shall be no restriction on the background of the entrepreneur. However, preference may be given to:
  • Women entrepreneurs
  • First generation entrepreneurs
  • Social enterprises
  • Any other criteria suggested by the Project Oversight Committee (POC)

Funding Information

• Grant funding upto INR 5 Lac per grantee.

Uses of the Funds

• The grant can be used for the following indicative heads:
  • Outsourcing charges for R&D/design engg/consultancy/testing/experts
  • Raw materials/consumables/spares
  • Fabrication/ synthesis charges of working model or process
  • Manpower (Max 20% of approved project cost)
  • Patent filing costs, PCT (Max 10% of approved project cost)
  • Contingency (Max 10% of approved project cost)

Eligible Projects

• The project needs to define a technology solution to a well-defined problem
• The technology should be innovative/novel
• Project should be focused on conducting POC studies/prototype development/prototype validation or conducting pilot studies
• Eligible Country: India

Ineligible Projects

• Pure software development with no IP potential
• Pure academic research

Eligibility Criteria

• Every project proposal will need to identify a Project Leader and an Applicant/Grantee
• The Project Leader (PL) will be an individual who will take responsibility for executing the project.
• The Applicant or Grantee can be either of the following:
  • Case 1: Applicant is an individual
  • Case 2: Applicant is a company
• PL has to be an individual (one person).
• PL is required to be at least 18 years of age as on the date of call for applications.
• PL is required to be Indian Citizen. An Indian citizen is defined as one who is in possession of a government approved proof of nationality such as a valid passport, voter’s id etc. Exceptional cases of foreign nationals with potential for impact in India will be considered.
• PL has to pursue the project or startup full time with no other concurrent commitments during the project duration.
• PL cannot be pursuing a long-term a long-term academic/research project (like doctoral students) with significant obligations during the project duration.
• PL must have completed basic undergraduate training in natural sciences/engineering/medicine. Essential qualification is PhD/MTech/BTech/BPharm/MD/MBBS/BDS/MSc/MPhil/M Des/ MPH/MBA/MSW and equivalents, with under‐ graduate training in Science, Medicine, Engineering. Applicants with a BSc degree with at least 1 year of full-time work or research experience shall also be eligible
• If Applicant is a company, the Company/LLP should be registered under the Indian Companies Act, 1956/2013
• The company should be owned by resident Indian citizens i.e. minimum 51% of the capital is beneficially owned by resident Indian citizen(s) and/or Indian companies, which are ultimately owned and controlled by resident Indian citizens

For more information, visit Venture Center.