National Innovation Foundation (NIF) was set up by DST, GOI to scout, valorize and diffuse on commercial/non-commercial basis green innovations and traditional knowledge at grassroots since the year 2000. In the first year with the help of Honey Bee network we had scouted 1613 innovations. This figure rose to 13,533 in the second year and then to 21,931 in the third year and presently totaling to around 51,000 innovations and traditional knowledge practices.
In order to upscale grassroots innovations and traditional knowledge examples NIF seeks to bridge the gap between grassroots genius/informal knowledge system and formal scientific system. With this as the larger objective, NIF has set up Students Clubs for Augmenting Innovations (SCAI) at grassroots all over the country in management and engineering colleges, pharmacy colleges and agricultural universities. The purpose is to generate a new model of knowledge based development, based on creativity and innovations at grassroots.
SCAI’s primary activities include-
(a) DISHA- a national level annual business plans competition. In the year 2004 competition was organized in coordination with the student body of IIM Ahmedabad. The response to it was fairly encouraging. This year it is being organized in coordination IIM Kolkata.
(b) SAAKAR- to scout for entrepreneurs who have the ability and inclination to start a business enterprise on innovations from NIF’s database.
(c) Mentoring and incubating ongoing projects.
(d) Taking up specific technologies for value addition in technology institutes either as student projects or jointly by students and faculty.
(e) Market research and technical benchmarking for specific technologies being incubated in different GIANs (Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Network).
(f) Organizing seminars and workshops in which clearinghouse can be organized among entrepreneurs, investors and innovators.
(g) Pursuing scouting and documentation of innovations and traditional knowledge in the neighborhood of the respective colleges or during vacation near the places where students live.
