New Delhi, Mar 10 (KNN) The MSME Ministry today launched the MSME Innovative Scheme with the combination of existing sub-schemes around incubation, design, and intellectual property rights (IPR) for the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

The new scheme would act as a hub for innovation activities facilitating and guiding the development of ideas into viable business propositions that can benefit society directly and can be marketed successfully.

Meanwhile, the three schemes of incubation, design and IPR will also continue to operate as individual programmes.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi believes India can become atmanirbhar, create employment, boost entrepreneurship, adopt new technologies, enhance GDP and exports through MSMEs. We have announced the MSME Innnovative Scheme in that direction to support different MSME ideas. Our enterprises should also endeavour to achieve high growth in manufacturing the way businesses in countries like the US and China have achieved. This new scheme will ensure support through guidance, financial support, technical support, and more to MSMEs to scale up,” MSME Minister Narayan Rane said at the launch of the scheme.

Under the scheme, the incubation part would promote adoption of the latest technologies among MSMEs that seek validation of their ideas at the proof-of-concept level.

The ideas would be incubated at ‘eligible institutions’ recognised by the government to act as business incubators. The scheme would also have a provision of providing financial assistance of up to Rs 15 lakh per idea to these host institutes apart from up to Rs 1 crore support for procuring plant and machinery for MSMEs.

As part of the incubation scheme, the government also announced the launch of an MSME Idea Hackathon to invite ideas from MSMEs, innovators and students through host institutes from March 10 to March 24, 2022.