Research Innovation Programme for Women Startups

The startup done in juction with tbi

Overview of the Programme

The Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) is the state nodal agency for the promotion of innovation and entrepreneurship in the state of Kerala and the implementation of the Kerala Technology Startup Policy.

Women In Startup Ecosystem (WISE) is a scheme of KSUM fostering  promoting women entrepreneurs in the technology domain by providing technical, financial, business connect and intervening policies for the enterprise to start, scale and accelerate in Kerala.

Research Innovation Network Kerala (RINK) is an initiative of KSUM to mould the culture of entrepreneurship among the research fraternity in the state. RINK promotes translation research and provide opportunity to take cutting edge research into commercial space.

The “Research Innovation Programme for Women Startups” of Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) is a programme under WISE scheme and coordinated by RINK. The programme is aimed to identify promising women innovators and promote entrepreneurship from women researchers. Through this programme, funding, mentorship, incubation, and other supports will be provided to women researchers in specific deep technology sectors (Biotechnology and Biomedical Engineering) for the conversion of innovative research outcomes into a commercially viable technology or product.

For the successful conduct of this programme, it is proposed to implement the programme with the support of an academic institution having research expertise in the above-mentioned sectors and experience in generating startups from academic community.

Through a selection process, Sahrdaya College of Engineering & Technology was selected by KSUM as the implementing academic institution to run the ‘Research Innovation Programme for Women Startups’.

Sahrdaya College of Engineering & Technology (SCET) is a premier educational institution that was established in 2002 and is promoted by the Irinjalakuda Diocesan Education Trust. SCET is an ISO 9001:2015 certified Institution, which offers Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral programmes in Engineering and Science under APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University. Sahrdaya, also holds accreditation from NAAC and Institution of Engineers (India), is considered one of the fastest growing Engineering colleges in Kerala with recognition from Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) of Govt. of India as Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (SIRO). The state of the art infrastructure of the institute spread over 45 acres of green campus with total build-up area of 57854 sq.m. Sahrdaya established Innovation and Entreprenuership Development Center in the year 2015 in collaboration with KSUM and was the recipient of KSUM’s IEDC Exemplary Performance Award 2016, Entrepreneurship Enabler Award 2018 and Best Inclusive IEDC 2020 Award.

The Sahrdaya College of Engineering & Technology will facilitate grant for the women researchers with regard to the grant opportunity announcements, selection, monitoring of the progress, organizing outreach programmes and other related activities whereas grant money will be released to the grantees directly by KSUM.

Eligibility Criteria

General
a) The proposals falling under the following sectors or the integration of the sectors with applied/interdisciplinary sciences are supported through the grant under “Research Innovation Programme for Women Startups”.
    i) Biotechnology
  ii) Biomedical Engineeringb) Basic/exploratory research and projects having low element of novelty are not supported. The proposed objectives and deliverables should not have received funding support from KSUM or any other agency. The grant is not a research fellowship and cannot be used to support Ph.D. or any other academic research.c) The applicant should be a woman and an Indian citizen who has completed Under Graduation (UG) at the time of application submission. The applicant should be the Project Leader.Who can apply?
a) A women research scholar/fellow [Ph.D. Scholar/Post-Doctoral Fellow/Research Assistant or Research Associate (RA)/Research Fellow (JRF/SRF)] currently registered with an accredited research institution, university or higher education establishment within Kerala provided that there is no conflict with the policies of their Institute. The applicant is encouraged to apply with a mentor.b) A woman who is not currently registered as a researcher but completed UG,PG, Ph.D. or Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the time of application submission. The applicant is encouraged to apply with a mentor. The mentor shall serve as a technical advisor and cannot draw monetary benefits from the sanctioned grant. A consent letter from the mentor on the letterhead stating his/her willingness to support the project and to ensure proper utilization of the sanctioned amount has to be submitted c) As the programme is meant to encourage entrepreneurship and create new startups, applicant who is currently employed (private/govt.) and the application from an existing women startup (promoter/shareholder/employee) is not eligible. However, a woman scientist or faculty member from an accredited research institution, university or higher education establishment within Kerala is eligible to apply provided that the applicant has to produce a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the head of the institution clearly indicating that the institution has policies in place to allow the applicant while in service/on sabbatical/on extraordinary leave to accept funding, manage the funds through a separate no-lien account as an individual, undertake the project in an incubator and to create a startup.A mentor is not required when the applicant is a faculty member/scientist.

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Outcome of Scheme

●Successful generation of women startups in the area of Biotechnology and Biomedical Engineering
● Conversion of academic research outcomes into products or technology.
● Connecting academic expertise to solve problems in the healthcare sector and vice-versa.
● Training researchers for smart conversion of academic skills into business models.
●To make a revolutionary impact on the overall economic development of the state and Country

Guidelines for the Grant

•    The grant component of the programme is aimed to support women researchers to 
a) translate the R&D into a PoC or Prototype that will lead to the development of a complete process or technology or product having commercial viability
b) promote successful generation of women R&D startups in the area of healthcare, particularly Biotechnology and Biomedical Engineering
•    Project duration, financials and grant disbursement
a) The duration of the project and the grant utilization is eight months from the date of agreement signing.
b) Grant of upto Rs. 5 lakhs will be awarded as installments in a milestone-based manner.
c) The grant disbursement will be milestone-based (4 months period) and will be released as 2 installments

Benefits of Scheme

Benefits of Scheme
The eligible women startups can grab research grants upto Rs 5 lakh for each startup in the initial phase.
The selected startups will also be benefited from:Mentors from Industry and Academia for higher levels of translation readiness
Allowed access to Laboratory facilities of the host institute (SCET).
On campus & Off campus training sessions, Incubation training, Workshops, Networking camps, Regular monitoring and quarterly reviews.
Technology transfer support from potential industry partners.

Milestones in the execution:

1.   Open call for project proposals from women researchers in the area of Biotechnology and Biomedical engineering
2.   Screening for the translational capacity of the proposal by a panel of domain experts.
3.   Selection of potential proposals and categorization based on industry readiness of the technology and cost from lab to market
4.   Defining the research based on technology readiness levels (TRL)
5.   Assigning of mentors from Industry and Academia (Domain Expert Mentors from the host institute to all selected incubatees and external experts) to the selected proposals and follow up of progress
6.   Access to Laboratory facilities of the host institute (SCET).
7.   Arranging capacity building training sessions for researchers to leverage the translation as and when needed
8.   Quarterly reviews on TRL and iterative correction/mentoring support to the incubatees
9.   Networking with potential partners to achieve research translation
10. Demo Day for the Women Startups
11. Enrolling the Innovations to the higher levels of TRL.

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Final Result

Result