CHENNAI:
Indian Oil Corporation, India’s flagship national oil major, has launched a start-up scheme (IndS_UP) with a revolving corpus fund of Rs. 30 crore to promote promising start-ups and nurture an eco-system conducive for innovations in the domestic hydrocarbons sector.
Driven by IndianOil’s Research & Development Centre based at Faridabad, the scheme will suppor
The start-up scheme will be administered through a dedicated online portal and shall facilitate the community of innovators, entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs. It will help them pursue their promising ideas right up to validated proof of concept (PoC) by funding the incubation ecosystem and through intellectual mentoring. IndianOil may further aid in the commercialisation of select validated PoCs through equity participation. Citizens of Indian origin willing to work in India besides individuals affiliated to academic institutions having incubation centres approved by the Central Government, or intrapreneurs from IndianOil can apply under the scheme.
To begin with, IndianOil will float the first round of open Innovation Challenge by way of an Expression of Interest (EoI) to select 9 proposals in the domain of Technology Process Re-engineering (TPRE) and 6 proposals in the domain of Business Process Re-engineering (BPRE). The proposals received will be subjected to a 2-level screening and the shortlisted one shall be incubated with the required physical and intellectual support till they reach PoC stage. The project owners shall be supported with grants of up to Rs. 2 crore per project during this period.
The areas identified by IndSUP under Technical Process Re-engineering (TPRE) are:
Low-cost efficient vapour recovery system at fuel stations.
Innovative re-refining of used lubricating oils without solvent/acid treatment.
Low-cost production of Hydrogen.
Low-cost process for desalination of sea water.
Innovative schemes for ensuring zero effluents from oil refineries.
Molecular modelling/design of the inter-phase molecule for dispersion of nano-material in HC media.
Environment-friendly disposal of insulation material like ceramic blankets, glass wool, etc.
LPG cylinder safety aspects.
Waste-to-fuels/waste-to-energy.
IndianOil is hopeful that the start-up scheme will promote collaborative research, develop a vibrant & innovative ecosystem, nurture innovation & entrepreneurship, boost start-ups with rural orientation, and open up avenues for young employees of the Corporation to launch start-up projects.
