IPR expert nominated to IOC start-up evaluation panel
Noted IPR expert and former CMD of National Research Development Corporation of India (NRDC) Prof. H. Purushotham has been nominated to a comm
He will be part of the committee set up by Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) to evaluate the applications received for funding the start-ups with out-of-the box ideas.
Prof. Purushotham is now DPIIT-IRR Chair at Andhra University. He will serve as one of the nine external members of the committee mandated for evaluating applications received under Indian Oil Startup Scheme Round 3-Open Innovation Challenge. The committee evaluates the eligible start-up proposals and recommends to IOCl for funding.
IOCL, India's flagship oil major has embarked upon promoting the innovation ecosystem in the country by providing financial and intellectual support to start-ups in the hydrocarbon domain, under Indian Oil Start-Up Scheme (flagship programme of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas). Led by Indian Oil's Research & Development Centre, based at Faridabad, the scheme aims to encourage innovative technology and business process re-engineering ideas with significant business potential and societal impact.
In each round IOCL earmarked about Rs.30 crore to invest in innovative start-ups and in the first two rounds 24 start-ups have been provided grant-in-aid financial support and intellectual support. The uniqueness of the Indian Oil Start up Scheme is that it not only provides financial support to the start-up but also mentors and handholds the entrepreneur through its senior domain experts up to proof of concept, and its validation in
the IOCL refineries and marketing outlets in required cases. If the technology is found to be proven it ensures protection of the generated intellectual property and facilitates getting the required regulatory approvals for commercialisation.
The first right for commercial exploitation will, however, be with IOCL which is a big advantage for the start-up to
market the product or service without much marketing effort. Prof PVGD Prasad Reddy, Vice Chancellor and Prof V. Krishna Mohan, Registrar, Andhra University, congratulated Prof Purushotham for being nominated as committee member of the prestigious programme of IOCL.
