Indian Railway Innovation Policy

Indian Railway Innovation Policy UPSC: Relevance

GS 3: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment

Recently, Ministry of Railways has launched Indian Railway Innovation Policy – “StartUps for Railways” to leverage innovative technologies developed by Indian companies.

This policy document lays down a broad framework for engagement of Ministry of Railways with Innovators for development of technology, products and need based solutions for Indian Railways.
The policy will bring scale and efficiency in the field of operation, maintenance and infrastructure creation through participation of very large and untapped start-up ecosystem.
Through this platform start-ups will get a good opportunity to connect with Railways.
Out of over 100 problem statements received from different divisions of Railways, 11 problem statements like rail fracture, headway reduction etc. have been taken up for phase 1 of this program. These will be presented before the start ups to find innovative solutions.
Railway Minister requested the startups to use this opportunity and ensured them of support from Indian Railways in form of 50 percent capital grant, assured market, scale and ecosystem.

Grant up to Rs. 1.5 Crore to innovator on equal sharing basis with provision of milestone-wise payment.
Complete process from floating of problem statement to development of prototype is online with defined time line to make it transparent and objective.
Trials of prototypes will be done in Railways. Enhanced funding will be provided to scale up deployment on successful performance of prototypes.
Selection of Innovator/s will be done by a transparent and fair system which will be dealt through online portal inaugurated today by Minister of Railways.
Developed Intellectual property rights (IPR) will remain with innovator only.
Assured developmental order to innovator.
De-centralization of complete product development process at divisional level to avoid delays.

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