Pharma giant Pfizer teamed up with IIT Delhi to launch ‘The Pfizer IIT-Delhi Innovation and IP Program’, an incubation accelerator initiative co-created by Pfizer and the Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT) at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT-Delhi).
S. Sridhar, Executive Director, Pfizer India said, “Pfizer promotes a culture of innovation and encourages this creative endeavour globally. This program will promote, celebrate and reward innovations and advancements in healthcare that are born and brought up in India for the benefit of our people.”
The Program will be open to Indian nationals - individuals and startup companies – and comprises two components. For innovators seeking comprehensive support to translate their healthcare ideas into patents, the program will provide two years of residential incubation at IIT Delhi, funding of up to Rs 50 lakh for each innovator, mentoring support from IIT Delhi’s faculty, access to infrastructure and prototyping laboratories, IP search and filing services, guidance from Pfizer’s global experts, and access to venture capitalists and other industry linkages. For innovators who already have a ready proof of concept and are seeking to obtain a patent, the Program will provide access to IP attorneys and services and cover the patent fee.
The objective of this program is to nurture, support, celebrate and reward healthcare innovations that are made in India.
Pfizer’s funding through this program will be unencumbered. All rights on the innovations will be owned entirely by the innovators and they will be free to commercialize their patents as they desire.
The Program will invite two rounds of proposals during the year 2015-2016. Call for proposals for the first round will open from November 27, 2015 until January 15, 2016. Applicants can submit their proposals on the FITT website. An independent panel of subject matter experts established by FITT will review and shortlist the potential incubatees. The Technology Business Incubator Unit board at IIT Delhi will make the final selection of individuals and start-ups that that shall receive the grants and be incubated at IIT Delhi.
