National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India (GoI) has launched an initiative NIDHI4COVID2.0, that will fund eligible startups and companies registered in India.

The start-ups offer promising solutions in the thrust areas of oxygen innovation, portable solution, relevant medical accessories, diagnostic, informatics, or any other solution that addresses/mitigate various challenges faced by the country/society due to the severe impact of COVID-19.

Promising startups will be provided with financial and mentoring support for scaling up their products/technologies to the next level and speeding up their processes, helping them reach the product deployment stage as fast as possible.

This initiative has been built based on NSTEDB's experience of implementing Centre for Augmenting WAR with COVID-19 Health Crisis (CAWACH) and also through special calls through National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations - Seed Support System (NIDHI - SSS) from Technology business incubators (TBI) to support Startups in 2020.

“Supporting the development of devices like oxygen concentrators also brings with it huge opportunities in the development and manufacturing of several critical components that are being imported such as specialised valves, zeolite materials, oil-less and noiseless miniaturised compressors, gas sensors, etc. which have wider applications in several sectors,” said Prof Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, DST.