National Innovation Portal

Why in the News?

• The Union Minister dedicates the National Innovation Portal to the nation.

About

• The portal is a database of innovations and traditional knowledge by the people, for the people and of the people

• It is currently home to about 1.15 lakh innovations scouted from common people of the country, covering engineering, agriculture, veterinary and human health

• In terms of domain areas, currently, the innovations cover energy, mechanical, automobile, electrical, electronics, household, chemical, civil, textiles, farm/cultivation practice, storage practice, plant variety, plant protection, poultry, livestock management, nutraceuticals, etc

• The portal has been developed by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF) – India, an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India

• An autonomous body under the DST, the NIF was established in 2000

• It is 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 scouts, supports and spawns grassroots innovations developed by individuals and local communities in any technological field, helping in human survival without any help from the formal sector

• NIF helps grassroots innovators and outstanding traditional knowledge holders get due recognition, respect and reward for their innovations

• It also tries to ensure that such innovations diffuse widely through commercial and/or non-commercial channels, generating material or non-material incentives for them and others involved in the value chain