In order to tackle the second wave of Covid-19 effectively, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) has invited applications from startups and firms for developing new technologies and innovative products. These applications will be sanctioned funding under a new initiative called NIDHI4COVID2.0. The only prerequisite for funding is that companies and startups must be registered in India and the thrust areas should be oxygen innovation, diagnostic, portable solutions, informatics, portable solutions, relevant medical accessories or any other solution that mitigates or addresses various challenges faced by one and all in the country due to the adverse effect of the pandemic. 

The DST further said that this step of inviting applications from startups and enterprises has been taken primarily to encourage startup-driven solutions to tackle the current challenges posed by the second wave of Covid-19 in the country. 

This initiative is basically a unique drive of the National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board for supporting indigenous solutions and innovative products to handle the crisis.

Startups that have the potential will be given financial aid, guidance and mentoring support to scale up their products or technologies and speed up their processes. They will be helped to reach the product deployment stage at the earliest. 

According to DST, supporting the development of oxygen concentrators will open up tremendous opportunities in the development and manufacturing of various critical components that are currently being imported like specialised valves, gas sensors, zeolite materials, oil-less and noiseless miniaturised compressors, that have greater use in several sectors.