News has recently come to light regarding the Union Minister of Science and Technology awarding this year’s Gandhian Young Technological Innovation (GYTI) Awards. These accolades hope to inspire and encourage technology students to establish their own ventures in fields such as biotechnology and other technological start-ups.
A Closer Look at the GYTI Awards
The GYTI awards are made up of two categories:
1. Students Innovations for Advancement of Research Explorations-Gandhian Young Technological Innovation (SITARE-GYTI): This prestigious award is given yearly to student’s most promising technologies in various fields, including life sciences, biotechnology, agriculture, and medical devices. The award is presented by the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a government-operated enterprise set up by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT).
2. Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technological Innovations-Gandhian Young Technological Innovation (SRISTI-GYTI): This award is also imparted yearly and recognizes students from all engineering disciplines not covered under SITARE-GYTI. This honor is awarded by Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technological Innovations (SRISTI), a developmental voluntary organisation.
Government Initiatives to Promote Start-Ups
Presently, the government is creating a Scientific Social Responsibility Policy, aimed at ensuring scientists’ contributions can benefit all sectors of society. One of its flagship programmes is the Biotechnology Ignition Grant Scheme, run by BIRAC. This scheme is the largest early-stage biotech funding programme in India, offering a grant of up to Rs. 5 million to top-tier innovative ideas. The programme has a clear agenda: to encourage the generation of commercialisable ideas, validate and upscale proof of concepts, inspire researchers to market their technology through a start-up, and to stimulate the formation of enterprises.
E-YUVA Scheme: Fostering Innovation Among the Youth
Another initiative, the Encouraging Youth for Undertaking Innovative Research through Vibrant Acceleration (E-YUVA) Scheme, enlists numerous universities and technological institutes as mentors. This creates a national network aimed at fostering a greater number of student entrepreneurs. The scheme’s main goal is to cultivate a culture of applied research and need-oriented entrepreneurial innovation among young students and researchers.
The E-YUVA scheme operates by providing support for students under two categories:
– BIRAC’s Innovation Fellows: for postgraduates or higher.
– BIRAC’s E-Yuva Fellows: for undergraduate students.
Biologically-inspired Resilient Autonomic Cloud: Aiding Student Start-ups
The Biologically-inspired Resilient Autonomic Cloud (BioRAC) platform further aids students who wish to establish start-ups, contributing to India’s goal of becoming self-reliant (Atmanirbhar). BioRAC utilizes biologically inspired techniques and multi-level tunable redundancy methods to enhance attack and exploitation resilience in cloud computing. This not only enables the technology to tolerate new cyber-attacks but also minimizes their impact.