Why in news?
National Innovation Foundation – India (NIF), an autonomous institute under the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India has come up with a call inviting innovative citizens to participate in its Challenge Covid-19 Competition (C3).
Details:
- The NIF has invited interested innovators to send in their creative ideas and innovations for problems or issues like reducing transmission of Coronavirus. This will help supplement the efforts of the government in slowing or eliminating the spread further.
- Ideas are also invited for:
- Gainful engagement of people at home
- Ensuring healthy food for nutrition and boosting immunity, especially, at the time of lockdown when raw materials are limited,
- Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
- Rapid diagnostic testing facilities for capacity building of healthcare.
- Solutions for the problems focussing on the varying needs of the differently-abled, people with special needs.
- The selected technological ideas and innovations will be supported through incubation and dissemination support from the governmental agencies.
Background:
- Which of the following statements is/are correct regarding National Innovation Foundation-India (NIF)? (UPSC-2015)
1. NIF is an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology under the Central Government
2. NIF is an initiative to strengthen the highly advanced scientific research in India’s premier scientific institutions in collaboration with highly advanced foreign scientific institutions.
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
- NIF is an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology, Union Ministry of Science and Technology.
- It was set up in February 2000 to provide institutional support for scouting, sustaining, spawning and scaling up the grassroots innovations across the country.
- Since then, it has been actively engaged in promoting creativity and innovation in society.
- It has taken major initiatives to serve knowledge-rich but economically poor people of the country.
- It is committed to making India innovative by documenting, adding value, protecting IPR of contemporary unaided technological innovators as well as of outstanding traditional knowledge-holders and disseminating their innovations on non-commercial and commercial basis
