MYSURU: The workshop on Indian Railway Innovation Policy (IRIP) — “Startup for Railways” organised by the South Western Railway, Mysuru division on Tuesday witnessed the participation of representatives 24 startups, micro, small & medium enterprises and other entities from across Karnataka in person and 19 entities online through video conference.
This event was conducted in line with the initiative taken by Indian Railways in the field of innovation through participation of startups and other entities. The workshop was organised to encourage Startups to come up with solutions to improve operational efficiency and safety of Indian Railways.
DRM Rahul Agarwal highlighted the salient features of IRIP such as grant up to Rs 1.5 crore to innovators on an equal sharing basis with provision of milestone-wise payment, complete online processing with 100% transparency, assistance from railways for carrying out trials of prototypes, enhanced funding on the successful performance of prototypes, retention of developed Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) with the innovator, etc.
The objective of this initiative is to develop a cost-effective, implementable, scalable, functional prototype and innovative products for addressing quality, reliability and maintainability related issues of Indian railways, he said.
He emphasised that the Union government, through its various initiatives, has provided an enabling framework and environment for the startups to explore and thrive, thereby giving a firm shape to the long-felt need for the integration of the state-of-the-art technology in Indian Railways.
A Devasahayam and E Vijaya, additional divisional railway managers, Levin Prabhu, senior divisional finance manager, and other senior branch officers were present during the day-long workshop.
