BIG Opportunity! To tackle Covid-19, govt launches initiative for Start-ups to innovate, develop, scale-up products and technologies

COVID-19 Latest News in India: The entire country is reeling under the effects of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India recorded 259,591 new COVID-19 cases and 4,209 deaths in the last 24 hours. Amid this situation, everyone in the country is possibly engaged in one thought - how can this second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic be tackled?

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A new initiative NIDHI4COVID2.0 has been launched for offering promising solutions in the thrust areas such as oxygen innovation, portable solution, relevant medical accessories, diagnostic, informatics, or any other solution that addresses/mitigate various challenges faced by country/society due to the severe impact of COVID-19.

As per a press release from The Ministry of Science and Technology, under this initiative, Indian start-ups and companies have been invited to apply for developing new technologies and innovative products that can enable the country to combat the COVID-19 crisis.

This initiative is a special drive of the National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India for supporting indigenous solutions and innovative products for fighting the crisis of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Currently, parts of devices like oxygen concentrators are being imported. However, because of this initiative, promising start-ups will be provided with financial and mentoring support for scaling up their products and technologies to the next level and speeding up their processes. This will help them to reach the product development stage as fast as possible.

Prof Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, DST, said, "Supporting 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 specialized valves, zeolite materials, oil-less and noiseless miniaturized compressors, gas sensors, etc. which have wider applications in several sectors."

In the current situation, it is expected that start-ups can play a major role in bringing new technologies and products in the market by means of which it will be easier to tackle this ongoing second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.