India’s New Railways Innovation Policy 2022, has been announced to find solutions to solver problems faced by Indian Railways. The Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw revealed the Innovation Policy on Monday (June 13) to promote startups to involve and engage in the sector.
Through the participation of the untapped startup ecosystem, the policy intends to bring scale and efficiency to the sphere of operations, maintenance, and infrastructure creation.
There were over 160 problem statements found, 11 of which will be used in Phase 1 of the programme: Ashwini Vaishnaw is the Minister of Railways.
Some of the problem statements involve damaged rail detecting systems, rail stress monitoring systems, and track inspection automation, among other things. According to the Ministry, the full procedure would be completed online and in a timely way.
Furthermore, the product’s intellectual property rights will remain with the innovator under the programme.
According to Vaishnaw, the long-running debates on integrating technology into Indian Railways have assumed a firm shape in the form of this effort.
Railways Innovation Policy 2022: Railways identifies 160 Problems affecting the Railways
The Indian Railways has now compiled more than 160 problem statements from various divisions and zones as part of the project. Of these, 11 problem statements will be chosen for Phase 1 of the programme, and companies will be recruited to provide novel solutions to these concerns.
A grant of up to INR 1.5 crore will be given on a milestone basis for the inventor as part of the policy (s). The entire process will be completed electronically and on a timetable, according to a statement from the Railways Ministry.
The ministry will then conduct trials of the prototype and provide additional funding to scale up deployment of successful products. The government has assured that the intellectual property rights (IPR) of the product will continue to remain with the innovator.
The Centre as well as state governments have taken a slew of measures and initiatives in recent years to promote startups and create jobs.
Earlier in January, Union Minister Piyush Goyal inaugurated the country’s first startup India Innovation Week to bring all key stakeholders on one platform to promote innovation
India has been steadily climbing up the charts in the Global Innovation Index. From a rank of 81 in 2015, the country rose to 46th rank among 132 countries in the 2021 ranking.
