Achievements of Indians in Science & Technology; Indigenization of Technology and Developing New Technology.

ChinmayaIAS Academy - Current Affairs January 15, 2021 GS, GS3 Leave a comment 381 Views

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5.NATIONAL INNOVATION PORTAL

Union Minister dedicates the National Innovation Portal to the nation.

WHAT IS THE NATIONAL INNOVATION PORTAL?

The portal is a database of innovations and traditional knowledge by the people, for the people and of the people.
It is currently home to about 1.15 lakh innovations scouted from common people of the country, covering engineering, agriculture, veterinary and human health.
In terms of domain areas, currently, the innovations cover energy, mechanical, automobile, electrical, electronics, household, chemical, civil, textiles, farm/cultivation practice, storage practice, plant variety, plant protection, poultry, livestock management, nutraceuticals, etc.
The portal has been developed by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF) – India, an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India.

NIF MISSION:

To help India become inventive and creative, and to become a global leader in sustainable technologies without social and economic handicaps affecting the evolution and diffusion of green grassroots innovations.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL INNOVATION FOUNDATION (NIF):

An autonomous body under the DST, the NIF was established in 2000
It is India’s national initiative to strengthen the grassroots technological innovations and outstanding traditional knowledge.
Its mission is to help India become a creative and knowledge-based society by expanding policy and institutional space for grassroots technological innovators.
NIF scouts, supports and spawns grassroots innovations developed by individuals and local communities in any technological field, helping in human survival without any help from formal sector.
NIF helps grassroots innovators and outstanding traditional knowledge holders get due recognition, respect and reward for their innovations.
It also tries to ensure that such innovations diffuse widely through commercial and/or non-commercial channels, generating material or non-material incentives for them and others involved in the value chain.

NIF ACHIEVEMENTS:

NIF has also set up an augmented Fabrication Laboratory (Fab Lab) for product development and strengthening in-house research.
NIF has filed about 1200 patents, including eight filed in the USA and 28 Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications, on behalf of the innovators and outstanding traditional knowledge holders.
Of these, 184 patents have been granted in India and 5 in the USA.
NIF has filed 24 Design registrations (of which 20 are granted) for innovations of the grassroots and student innovators.
In addition to this, 10 trade mark applications have also been filed, of which 7 have been granted.
Micro Venture Innovation Fund (MVIF) at NIF, with support from Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), has provided risk capital to 230 innovation based enterprise projects, some of which are at different stages of incubation.