India: NIDHI – Entrepreneur In Residence Program (Round 4)

Deadline: 20 April 2024

Apply for the NIDHI – Entrepreneur In Residence Program to inspire the best talents to be entrepreneurs, minimize the risk involved in pursuing startups, and to partially set off their opportunity costs of high paying jobs.

NIDHI – is the National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations, an umbrella program conceptualized by the Innovation & Entrepreneurship division of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India aimed at catapulting INNOVATIONS into STARTUPS, which in turn would contribute to the building of an innovation driven ecosystem to bring about economic development through creation of wealth.

NIDHI – Entrepreneur In Residence (NIDHI-EIR) National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), Government of India supporting Technology Business Incubators is mainly associated with academic and research institutions to leverage technologies and innovations for venture creation. Converting technologies and research into startup ventures has a long product development and revenue generation time. To inspire the best talents to be entrepreneurs, minimize the risk involved in pursuing start-ups, and to partially set off their opportunity costs of high paying jobs, NSTEDB has introduced NIDHI – Entrepreneurs In Residence (EIR) Programme. The NIDHI-EIR programme provides tremendous opportunities for innovative entrepreneurs to expand their networks and get critical feedback on their ventures in order to promote their entrepreneurial career goals and aspirations.

Sectors

Agriculture
Internet Of Things
Healthcare
Deep Technology
Education
EV & Smart Mobility

Objectives of NIDHI-EIR

The program aims:

To encourage graduating students to take to entrepreneurship by providing support as a fellowship
To provide a prestigious forum for deserving and budding entrepreneurs to pursue their ventures without any additional risks involved in technology based businesses
To create, nurture and strengthen a pipeline of entrepreneurs for incubators
To make pursuing entrepreneurship related to a technology business idea more attractive among available career options
To enable the creation of new startups by entrepreneurs and significant progress towards raising funding or investment

Support

Access to Infinity Studio & ESDM Cluster
Co-working Space
Guidance for grants & higher TRL
Mentors & Industry Connects

Funding Mechanism

Support Grants
- The NIDHI-EIR support recipient will be eligible to grant maximum of ₹ 30, 000/- per month with a minimum level of ₹ 10, 000/- per month for a period of 12 months. Hence total maximum support to be capped at ₹ 3,60,000/- for each selected NIDHI – EIR.
- Duration: 12 to 18 months based on the milestones.

Eligibility Criteria

Applicant should be an Indian citizen
Applicant should have the following education background
- Minimum 4 years of undergraduate/postgraduate in the science or engineering field
- 3 years of diploma/degree in the science or engineering field with minimum 1-2 years of full time work experience
Candidates shall not be involved in any other source of income
Business ideas should have a good degree of innovation & technological intervention
Preferences will be given to the following:
- Technology Business Ideas with High Degree of Social Impact
- Women entrepreneurs
- Young Innovators under the age of 35
- Uniqueness of the idea