Institution’s Innovation Council

MoE’s Innovation Cell

Guideline for Creating and Maintaining

YUKTI - National Innovation Repository (NIR)

About YUKTI – National Innovation Repository (NIR)

YUKTI – National Innovation Repository (NIR) is an initiative of Ministry of Education (MoE) Government
of India and it is implemented by MoE’s Innovation Cell and AICTE to build a system to repository of
ideas, innovations and startups developed from academic institutions and enabling institutions to
manage and nurture these innovations by offering continuous support in terms of one-to-one
mentorship, grant assistance, referral and linkage with incubation units, connecting with
Angel/Venture Capital (VC) investors network, knowledge agencies etc. Furthermore, the repository
creation and maintenance in each HEI will also provide opportunity for innovations to take part in
various national level innovation and start-up challenges/programs through a nomination process.

This YUKTI – NIR initiative is not only to complement the national movement of innovation & start-up
ecosystem building in HEIs but also to supplement in strengthening the pipeline by increasing outflow
of quality innovations for incubation units & investors community for further support. NIR platform will
also facilitate to connect stakeholders from both demand and supply sides and match innovations with
ecosystem enablers.

Common FAQs

• Is existence or establishment of Institution’s Innovation Council (IIC) in the HEI prerequisite for
YUKTI- NIR?
Yes, establishment/existence of Institution’s Innovation Council (IIC) in the institute is perquisite for the
HEI to get its name reflected in the dropdown list and to start accepting the applications. If your
institute has not yet established IIC, then you can communicate to Head of the Institute to register and
establish an IIC first and set up ‘My Council’ to enable you to submit. https://iic.mic.gov.in
• What is the role of IIC Institutions in creating and maintaining the YUKTI – NIR platform?
Institution’s Innovation Councils (IICs) established in Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) will play an
instrumental role in the whole process innovation repository creation at each institute level by
identifying, scouting ideas, innovations and start-ups from students, alumni/recent graduates, faculty
members, staff, entrepreneurs incubated at the institute. Moreover, the portal will also enable HEI to
verify the received submissions on regular basis and taking needful actions to provide handholding
supports such as mentoring, grant assistance, nominate for national innovation challenges, referral &
linkage with incubation units, accelerators and connect with Angel/VC networks, facilitating technology
transfer etc. for the growth of innovations.

• What is the scouting mechanism for IIC institution for the building YUKTI – NIR?
IIC institute can manage the YUKTI- NIR by clicking the ‘YUKTI’ icon located in the left side control panel
in the IIC login page. HEI can find an URL in this subsection, which is specific to the IIC institute and this
can be shared with its current students (regular), recently Graduates, alumni, faculty, staff,
entrepreneurs are incubated at the incubation unit of the IIC-institute/HEI for submission of their
Ideas/Innovations/Business-Model/Startups.
 • Is there any alternative way for submission of ideas/innovations/start-ups Can someone can
submit an Idea/Innovation/Startup?
All submissions will be channelized through the IIC Institute/HEI only. Either applicant can register
through the registration URL shared by the IIC institute (or) alternatively, eligible applicants can register
and submit applications in the YUKTI webpage https://yukti.mic.gov.in/ by register directly at
https://yukti.mic.gov.in/registration/new
In case, applicant is registering directly in the YUKTI page, they need to check and select the IIC-
institute/HEI of which they are/were part of.
• Who can submit an Idea/Innovation/Startup and what is the basic eligibility?
Current student (regular)/Recently Graduated/Alumni/Faculty/Staff/Entrepreneur at Incubation unit of
the IIC-institute/HEI can submit their Ideas/Innovations/Business-Model/Startups. The basic eligibility
for submission of application is that applicant should have/had association with the institute in any one
of the form as mentioned above. Applicant must upload the copy of document/ID proof of association
with the institute while registration. https://yukti.mic.gov.in/
• How many Idea/Innovation/Startup one can be submitted by an applicant?
Post-registration, the team lead/founder/applicant can submit multiple ideas/innovations/business
models/startups. The team leader of one idea/innovation can be a member of another idea/innovation.
In addition to the Team leader, team can have up to 5 more members and 2 members as mentor. Team
members can be from same or different institute or external member.
The team leader will get a login access to add, manage and check progress of the
ideas/innovations/startups submitted.
• Can IIC institute keep the portal open throughout the year to receive submissions?
Yes, HEI should scout and accept submissions of ideas/innovations/startups throughout the year.
HEI/IIC institute will undertake necessary actions towards promotion and awareness generation among
stakeholders and actors in this regard. The repository created at the institute level will be part of the
YUKTI-National Innovation Repository.

• What actions to be undertaken by the HEI after receiving submissions?

Once applicant will submit ideas/innovations/business-models/startups, application will be accessible
to HEI/IIC institute for further verification by experts at the institute level. On regular basis, HEI need
to verify the submissions by engaging experts and based on the recommendation remarks received
from the expert(s), HEI will take further supportive actions.
• How to add experts for verification and whom can add as expert for verification?
HEI can add experts and manage in the YUKTI – NIR sub section page and tab “Add Verifier”. Verifier
can be classified as internal and external members. The trained faculty Innovation Ambassadors (IAs)
are going to be internal experts who can act as verifier. The list of IAs are pre-populated in the page for
selection and addition as verifier.
Similarly, HEI can add and invite external members with relevant experience of at least 4-5 years and
expertise in the areas of innovation, entrepreneurship, startup, IP and technology commercialization
to carry out the verification.
Addition of an expert can be done by inserting contact details of external member/selecting IA, and an
invitation email with invitation link will be auto delivered to the member for completing the
registration. HEI can see the list of experts empaneled for verification and can add or delete later.
*One external expert can be added as a verifier for multiple institutes.
 • What should be the allocation and verification process?
In the YUKTI-NIR page, HEI can see the list of Ideas/innovation/startups received on continuous in
chronological fashion (recent/newer one at the top). For verification, institute has to click “Assign”
button placed against each application to select and assign verifiers. Each application needs to be
verified by at least one and maximum three verifiers. Allocation of verifiers can be managed here.
Once assigned, verifier can see the list of applications received from particular institution (s) and as per
the stipulated time period set by the respective HEI, verifier need to complete the verification task. In
the same page, HEI can check the name of verifiers assigned for each application.
• How and where the score and remark of verification will reflect?
Once all assigned verifiers of particular application completed verification and submitted their score
and remark, then the average verified score and average remark will reflect in the respective columns
for each application. Score will be in the range of 0 to 100 and remark will appear either as
Recommended or Not-recommended.
Applicants will also see the verification progress; score and remark received for their applications in
their login page.
• Where one will get documents related to application format, verification criteria and guidance on
innovation development stages?
In each submission, applicant will require to clearly mention innovation development stages;
Technology Readiness Level (TRL), Manufacturing Readiness Level (MRL), and Investment Readiness
Level (IRL). One can download a short presentation on innovation development stages, blank
application formats and verification criteria for our reference. https://yukti.mic.gov.in/
• What type of supporting actions IIC institute/HEI is likely to offer after getting applications verified
and received remark?
HEI can undertake many supporting actions based on the resource and pre-incubation and incubation
facilities available and provisioned as part of the I&E policy initiatives at the institute.
Post verification of Ideas/innovations/startups, the IIC institute/HEI will provide a wide range of
handholding supports which include followings;

o IIC institute can provide One to One Mentoring Support to needy ones to refine and build the
application by engaging internal and external mentors empaneled at the HEI.
o IIC institute can extend financial or grant assistance/schemes avail be at the
institute/incubation unit to the deserving applications for working on their
innovations/startups.
o IIC institute can link or refer the proposals to incubation centers exit outside the institute for
further incubation support and guidance.
o IIC institute can connect with Angel Investors/VC firms for further support and guidance.
o IIC institute can provide facilitation service for IP filing, Technology Transfer/Licensing support
and guidance.
o IIC institute can nominate the best proposals to National Innovation Challenge (NIC) of Ministry
of Education (MoE) and (or) similar kind of national programs offered by other various
ministries for further support in terms of training, mentoring, funding assistance etc.
o IIC institute can nominate the best proposals to participate in various competitions and
programs where HEI is partner.
o IIC institute can provide incentive, reward, recognition and other support mechanisms
provisioned in the Innovation and Startup Policy of the institute aligned with the National
Innovation and Startup Policy (NISP) of MoE.
 • What benefits for the IIC Institute for developing the institute level innovation repository
creation?
There are multiple and both direct and indirect benefits for the IIC institute in building and maintaining
the innovation repository at the institute level and connecting with YUKTI – NIR. Highlighting few of
these;
• Data entered in YUKTI – NIR will act as input for ARIIA
o For data section 4: Innovations (verified by HEI with Recommended status) repository
created by the IIC Institute (HEI) as part of the YUKTI - National Innovation Repository
initiative of the MoE's Innovation Cell will be auto-pooled and reflected in the data
section and further counted in the ARIIA ranking.
o For data section 5: Ventures/Start-ups (verified by HEI with Recommended
status) repository created by the IIC Institute (HEI) as part of the YUKTI - National
Innovation Repository initiative of the MoE's Innovation Cell will be auto-pooled and
reflected in the data section and further counted in the ARIIA ranking.
• Benchmarking Innovation and Startups in the HEI and setting target by taking it as Key
Performance Indicator (KPI) and setting direction and bigger vision for the institute to become
innovative and entrepreneurial.
• In generating awareness among actors and incentivizing innovation and startups practices to
produce more innovations and startups from the academic institutions.
• Reward and recognition of the HEI at the state, region, and national level and brand building.
• Systematize and channelize innovations and create pipeline of quality innovations.
• Connect and collaborate with ecosystem enablers and agencies.

• Whom to contact for any query related submission?

For applicant, any query related to submission, their first point of contact is the IIC Institute. Applicant
will reach to the Institute’s IIC President or IIC convener and Innovation in charge. Contact details of
key functionaries of your IIC institute will be visible in the login page of applicant.
For any guidance and query, HEI/IIC institute can reach to the IIC zonal in charges of the IIC
implementation team at MoE. https://yukti.mic.gov.in/ and https://iic.mic.gov.in/iic-implementation-
team