NIDHI-Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) Program

Pursue your Entrepreneurial Aspirations with NIDHI-EIR at AIC ISB

Deadline: January 16, 2024

About the Program

NIDHI – is the National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations, an umbrella program conceptualized by the Innovation & Entrepreneurship division of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India aimed at catapulting INNOVATIONS into STARTUPS, which in turn would contribute to the building of an innovation driven ecosystem to bring about economic development through creation of wealth.

NIDHI-Entrepreneur in Residence (NIDHI-EIR) is an initiative by the National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB) under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India designed to encourage and support enterprising individuals to venture out and pursue daring entrepreneurial ideas. As a program partner, AIC ISB offers a unique blend of support, mentorship, and resources, serving as the ideal platform to transform your innovative ideas into tangible reality.

Program Objectives

  • To encourage graduating students to take to entrepreneurship by providing support as a fellowship
  • To provide a prestigious forum for deserving and budding entrepreneurs to pursue their ventures without any additional risks involved in technology based businesses
  • To create, nurture and strengthen a pipeline of entrepreneurs for incubators
  • To make pursuing entrepreneurship related to a technology business idea more attractive among available career options
  • To enable the creation of new startups by entrepreneurs and significant progress towards raising funding or investment

Grant Support: Up to INR 3.6 lakh*

The program offers grant support over 12 months to minimize the risk involved in pursuing startups and to partially set off the opportunity costs of high paying jobs.

Sector: Agnostic

*In form of fellowship of up to INR 30,000 per month for a year

Program Benefits

Prototyping Support

Access to Makerspace @ AIC ISB for product development, prototyping and testing along with support from partners.

Mentoring & Guidance

Guidance from ISB star startups, alums and mentor network, on the business model, strategy, sector and market insights.

Co-working Space

EIRs get to work in an open and collaborative environment with access to basic amenities as they develop the idea into a marketable product.

Capacity Building

Providing targeted support and training programs that enable EIRs to strengthen their core competencies, expand their capabilities, and effectively navigate the challenges.

Networking Opportunities

Access to AIC ISB's networking events to establish and cultivate valuable connections with investors, industry experts, fellow entrepreneurs, and other key stakeholders.

Elevating Journey

EIRs get further handholding to advance in their entrepreneurial journey with incubation support and assistance in applying for other funding programs.

Eligibility Criteria

  • Applicants must be Indian citizens.
  • Applicants must have successfully completed their undergraduate or postgraduate education in the fields of Science or Engineering.
  • Applicants who are in their final year of study are not eligible to apply.
  • Applicants are expected to commit to pursuing their entrepreneurial aspirations on a full-time basis and should not consider it as a temporary arrangement, academic support, or a transitional phase between jobs.
  • Applicants should demonstrate their ability to build a scalable technology-based business startup.
  • Preference will be given to applicants with:
    a) Technology-focused business ideas that involve significant technological uncertainties and/or have long gestation periods.
    b) Technology-focused business ideas that leverage technology or intellectual property derived from publicly funded research or academic institutions.
    c) Technology-focused business ideas with substantial potential for creating positive social impact.
  • Applicants with business ideas that lack substantial technological innovation are discouraged from applying.
  • Applicants seeking support from NIDHI-EIR should have a well-developed formal business plan, a comprehensive business presentation, and an investment proposal.

Process

Fellows

Divas Parashar

Founder, Quintinno Labs

Rajesh Kandlagunta

Co-founder, FaceIntel Systems

Nikhil Panchal

Founder, Green Aadhaar

Neelima Krishnakumar

Co-founder, LAF Sports

FAQ

The NIDHI-EIR Program would provide subsistence grant to an aspiring or budding entrepreneur of considerable potential for pursuing a promising technology business idea.

  • Completely filled NIDHI-EIR form given in link above.
  • In case of Scheduled Caste (SC) / Scheduled Tribe (ST), caste certificate from valid government department

This program is open to candidates who can work full-time on their idea, thus students in final year of Undergrad and Postgrad studies are not eligible.
For PhD students, if they are getting fellowship from their institution, then they are not eligible. Also, EIR funds cannot be used for academic pursuits.
Please refer to eligibility section to know more.

An amount of INR 3,60,000 can be provided as support to a NIDHI-EIR fellow in a timeframe of 12-18 months. The grant will be given as a monthly fellowship in amounts ranging from INR 10,000 to INR 30,000 per month.

No, The support is for full time working entrepreneur only. Please refer to the eligibility section to know more.

  1. After receiving applications, Program Execution Partner (PEP) – AIC ISB will check the eligibility of each applicant.
  2. Applicants who are eligible will then be scrutinised by the selection committee of AIC ISB, based on certain qualifying criteria to select the final recipients for NIDHI-EIR support.

Absolutely, we maintain the confidentiality of all the applications we receive under different schemes. All third-party reviewers sign non-disclosure and no-conflict agreements before viewing the applications.

Yes, but only one will be finally provided NIDHI-EIR support, if selected.