IR enables innovation in the sector

IR has taken an initiative to enable the participation of start-ups and oth­er entities in the field of innovation. The StartUps for Railways policy was launched by IR on June 13, 2022. This policy will bring scale and efficiency in the field of operations, maintenance and infrastructure creation through the participation of the untapped start-up ecosystem. The key features of the policy include a grant up to Rs 150 million to innovators on an equal sharing basis with the provision of milestone-wise payment. Further, the complete process from floating of the problem statement to the development of a prototype is online with defined timelines to ensure transparency. The trials of prototypes will be done in railways and en­hanced funding will be provided to scale up deployment of the successful prototypes. The selection of innovator/s will be done by a transparent and fair online portal. In order to enable involvement, the product intellectual property rights will remain with the innovator. Fur-ther, there will be decentralisation of the complete product development process at the divisional level to avoid delays.