National Innovation Foundation-India
Autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology,
Government of India
National Innovation Foundation-India (NIF), building upon the Honey Bee Network philosophy, started functioning in March 2000 as 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 is committed to look for knowledge-rich, economically poor people of the country who have developed technological innovations in any field of human survival without any outside help. NIF is committed to making India innovative by documenting, adding value, protecting the intellectual property rights of the contemporary unaided technological innovators, as well as of outstanding traditional knowledge holders and disseminating them on a commercial as well as non-commercial basis. NIF became an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India in 2010.
NIF is increasingly seen as a pivot of many national programs in promoting innovations in different sectors of economy and at various levels in society. Hon’ble President of India gives away the awards to the grassroots innovators during the National Biennial Presidential Grassroots Innovations and outstanding Traditional Knowledge award function. Since 2010, National Innovation Foundation – India (NIF) has been organizing an exhibition of grassroots innovation at President House to expose the Mughal garden visitors and others to the pervasive culture of creativity and innovation at grassroots. To leverage the uniquely frugal and empathetic model of innovations developed in India, NIF started organizing the Festival of Innovations (FOIN) annually at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. As part of the FOIN, a number of activities were planned every day.
NIF also organizes IGNITE, an annual national competition to harness the creative and innovative spirit of school children. Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam, former President of India gave awards to creative children of the country every year since 2008 till 2014. NIF has decided to commemorate IGNITE awards in his memory as Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE awards so that creative children continue to draw inspiration from his spirit.
NIF has been able to build up a database of more than 2,00,000 technological ideas, innovations and traditional knowledge practices (not all unique, not all distinct) from over 575 districts of the country. NIF has till date recognized more than 775 grassroots innovators and school students at the national level in its various award functions. Through the collaborations with various R&D and academic institutions, Agricultural and Veterinary Universities and others labs in public and private sector, NIF has helped in validating thousands of grassroots technologies and also adding value in them. It has also set up a Fabrication Laboratory (Fab Lab) for product development apart from strengthening in-house research and development facilities for the initial validation of herbal technologies. Pro bono arrangement with patent firms has helped NIF to file over 725 patents (including eight filed in USA and twenty seven PCT applications) on behalf of the innovators and outstanding traditional knowledge holders of which thirty seven patents have been granted in India and five in the USA. In addition twenty seven farmers’ developed plant varieties are registered at the PPV&FR Authority. Micro Venture Innovation Fund (MVIF) set up at NIF with the support of SIDBI has provided risk capital to 193 projects, which are at different stages of incubation. NIF has received over six hundred product inquiries from around fifty-five countries for various technologies. It has succeeded in commercialising products across six continents. It has transferred 83 technologies to different licensees. NIF has set up 37 community workshops at innovators place throughout country
NIF has proved that Indian innovators can match and in some cases outperform, anyone in the world when it comes to solving problems creatively, frugally and sustainably. The grassroots to Global (g2G) model that NIF is propagating is all set to change the way the world looks at the creativity and innovations at grassroots.
For more information please contact:
Director
National Innovation Foundation-India
Satellite Complex, Jodhpur Tekra, Premchand Nagar Road,
Satellite, Ahmedabad-380 015, INDIA
Phone: +91 79 2673 2456, 2095; Fax: +91 79 2673 1903;
Web: www.nif.org.in; E-mail: info[at]nifindia[dot]org
