DSIR is promoting a series of events to mark 75 years of India's Independence as Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav and the PRISM Awareness Event was the first event organized by TOCIC IIT Kanpur in this series on 5th October 2021.

The event witnessed the participation of innovators across the country. The insightful session inspired innovators to identify, ideate, and develop solutions that would have a significant social and economic impact and seek support from TOCIC to know more about the PRISM funding scheme.

The PRISM scheme's uniqueness lies in its special focus to provide a platform to bring changes in society without keeping education as an eligibility criterion. The PRISM scheme provides funding support from 2 lakhs to 50 lakhs for all stages of innovation. DSIR Scientist Dr. Sarika Madan and TOCIC Coordinator Dr. Amitabha Bandopadhyay paneled the significance and uniqueness of the scheme and the impact it had created ranging from grass-root innovators to successful entrepreneurs.

The session hosted college students, working professionals, and start-ups.

Program Admins Ms. Anamika Rathore and Ms. Akanksha Singh explained the details of the categories and process of filling applications. One can apply for the PRISM grant even to test the validity of the idea and turn it into POC or at the prototype development stage.

UMANG, a new online portal developed under the initiative of Digital India by the Government of India harbors the possibility for online application and tracking of the application status after submission.

Three of the many successful grantees of the scheme
Mr. Chandrasekhar (Innovator of Manual Harvester designed for marginal farmers),
Mr. Sandip Patil (CEO of Espin Nanotech Pvt. Ltd), and
Mr. Nikhil Updadhye (CEO of CDSpace Robotics Pvt. Ltd.) shared their success story and the experience of working with TOCIC IIT Kanpur at Startup and Innovation Incubation Centre under PRISM Grant.

Mr. Sandip Patil worked on the Fabrication of a low-cost lab-scale electro-spinning machine and Mr. Nikhil Upadhye developed UAV Avionics for Drone Delivery-BVLOS Operation along with successful field trials

The call for PRISM application at TOCIC IIT Kanpur is open throughout the year. A total of 94 innovations have been supported yet under this grant at IIT Kanpur and it will continue to support and promote innovators by nurturing their ideas and handholding them through the process of application.