Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) joins hands with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur’s technology based incubator, Startup Incubation and Innovation Centre (SIIC) to facilitate the MSME Design Innovative Scheme, as per a report by The Economic Times. The partnership will leverage design expertise and the design fraternity to improve India’s manufacturing sector. 

Under this arrangement, selected small companies would be given grant-in-aid for developing prototypes. 

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The MSME Ministry’s Design Innovative scheme offers grants to the final year Undergraduate and Postgraduate students engaged in design development and MSMEs working in the design domain. These funds are awarded for one year for the development of select prototypes.

IIT Kanpur is an implementing agency for the Design Innovative Scheme by the Ministry of MSME. During the third meeting of Project Monitoring and Advisory Committee by the Ministry, seven projects, each by a different enterprise, have been approved for prototype development. These enterprises include Asatrobo Technologies, Kanpur Writers, Water N Spices Foodsz , Villa Mart, Agronxt Services, LCB Fertilizers and Acquafront Infrastructure, as per the report. 

“IIT Kanpur is paving the path to promote the manufacturing industry by developing innovative technologies that will bring a significant global revolution to strengthen the self-reliant initiative,” said Ankush Sharma, professor-in-charge, Innovation and Incubation, IIT Kanpur. 

Nikhil Agarwal, CEO of SIIC and Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (AIIDE) Centre of Excellence commented, “With the great synergy between IIT Kanpur and the Ministry of MSME, we are looking forward to taking a giant leap ahead with their forthcoming MSME Innovative Design Programme MIDP. This initiative will provide excellent support to budding entrepreneurs.”

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Piyush Mishra, COO, SIIC, in a statement said, “We are pleased that our startups are being recognised by the Ministry of MSME, and we believe that these notable enterprises will create an everlasting impact in the innovation space through these grants.”