An incubation and fellowship programme called ‘NICE’ which stands for NMDC Innovation and Incubation Centre has been launched by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad and public sector mining major NMDC. The total program budget is Rs 10 crore funded by National Mineral Development Corporation.

This five-year joint programme would support 15 fellows and 15 startups by providing them financial aid, mentoring support, co-working space, and other infrastructural benefits. NICE aims to support five startups every year with the financial aid of up to Rs 25 lakh to convert their proof of concept into a scalable business. The programme would also support five fellows every year with the monthly stipend of Rs 80,000 for 12 months to support their sustenance and prototype development. Call for applications for the fellowship program will start soon and can be applied through the NICE website.

“The objective of NICE is to promote entrepreneurship and innovation in the country and to support the Startup India movement,” the IIT said in an official statement. This a joint program between NMDC Limited and i-TIC Foundation, a startup support system at IIT-Hyderabad that aims to support deep-tech startups by providing them incubation and fellowship support.

While launching the program, Shri Sumit Deb said, “The initiative will be a go-to place for the young entrepreneurs to passionately pursue their entrepreneurship journey and create wealth for the benefit of society at large.”

Prof BS Murty said the vision of IIT-Hyderabad is to be the cradle for inventions and innovations. “This joint program is one important step taken towards the vision of IITH and the commitment to supporting entrepreneurship and innovations. This program would also act as a template for industry-academia collaboration to enrich the Startup India initiatives.”