StartUps for Railways

Why in News?

Indian Railways, the National transporter has taken an important initiative in the field of innovation through participation of start-ups and other entities. Hon’ble Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw has launched “StartUps for Railways” today in Rail Bhavan, New Delhi.

This policy will bring scale and efficiency in the field of operation, maintenance, and infrastructure creation through participation of a very large and untapped startup ecosystem

Grant up to Rs. 1.5 Crore to innovators on equal sharing basis with provision of milestone-wise payment
Complete process from floating of the problem statement to development of the prototype is online with a defined timeline to make it transparent and objective
Trials of prototypes will be done in Railways. Enhanced funding will be provided to scale up deployment on successful performance of prototypes
Selection of Innovator/s will be done by a transparent and fair system which will be dealt through an online portal inaugurated today by the Minister of Railways
Developed Intellectual property rights (IPR) will remain with innovators only
Assured developmental order to innovators
De-centralization of complete product development process at divisional level to avoid delays