New Delhi: The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has approved the AICTE Innovation and Entrepreneurship Doctoral Fellowship Programme (AIEDFP). The programme was launched by Prof. Yogesh Singh, Chairman, AICTE, in the presence of Prof. Shyama Rath, Member Secretary, AICTE, and other senior officials of the Council. The programme has been envisaged to strengthen the innovation-driven research ecosystem in the country by promoting high-quality, problem-driven and application-oriented doctoral research.
With a projected financial outlay of ₹245 crore over a period of five years, the programme will support 150 PhD fellowships. The initiative will focus on doctoral research that demonstrates tangible outcomes in the areas of innovation, entrepreneurship, technology transfer, commercialisation and societal impact.
The AIEDFP will support both technological and non-technological pathways of innovation and promote multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary research addressing identified national and global priorities. The programme seeks to facilitate the translation of research outcomes into products, processes, services, policy solutions, social innovations, technology transfer and entrepreneurial ventures.
Financial Support for Fellows
Each fellow under the programme will be eligible for financial support for a maximum period of five years, subject to the prescribed eligibility conditions and satisfactory academic and research progress.
The proposed fellowship structure provides:
•₹60,000 per month plus applicable House Rent Allowance (HRA) for the first three years; and
•₹70,000 per month plus applicable HRA for the subsequent two years.
In addition to the fellowship, each scholar may be provided an Innovation Grant of up to ₹10 lakh to support activities such as prototype development, process, practice, policy or service innovation, testing and validation, field trials, data collection, consumables, contingency, travel and other research-related activities necessary for translation of research outcomes into deployable solutions.
The programme has been designed to strengthen the linkage between doctoral research and real-world applications. It will encourage research addressing industrial and societal challenges and facilitate the progression of promising research outcomes towards higher Technology Readiness Levels.
The programme will also support activities related to intellectual property, technology transfer, innovation translation and commercialisation. Relevant AICTE mechanisms, including KAPILA and YUKTI, may be utilised for support relating to patent filing and innovation translation.
A key component of the AIEDFP is the development of a collaborative ecosystem involving industry, startups, research organisations, incubators and other innovation ecosystem stakeholders.
Industry partners and external experts may contribute practical problem statements, industrial resources, infrastructure and datasets, and provide mentorship for application-oriented research and product or prototype development. The programme also provides for optional industrial exposure of 6–12 months, enabling scholars to participate in research and development activities, prototype development, testing, validation, field trials and data collection at partner organisations.
Such collaborations are expected to facilitate the validation and deployment of research outcomes and create pathways for technology transfer, commercialisation and entrepreneurship.
The AIEDFP places emphasis on measurable outcomes from doctoral research. Depending on the discipline and nature of the research, outcomes may include intellectual property assets, technology development, user validation, incubation or startup pathways, industry engagement and other appropriate translational outputs.
The programme also recognises the importance of innovation and impact beyond technology and engineering. Research scholars from social science disciplines will be evaluated through an appropriate framework recognising qualitative research outputs, policy impact, community-level interventions and social innovation as valid doctoral outcomes.
While launching the programme, Prof. Yogesh Singh said that the initiative is expected to foster a stronger culture of innovation and entrepreneurship within higher education institutions by promoting industry-relevant research, strengthening industry-academia collaboration, facilitating technology transfer and commercialisation, and creating a robust intellectual property-driven entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The expected outcomes of the programme include industry-ready research outputs, patents and prototypes, technology transfer, innovation translation and commercialisation, market-ready innovations, startup and entrepreneurship development, and a pool of doctoral researchers equipped with capabilities relevant to both academia and industry.
Through the AICTE Innovation and Entrepreneurship Doctoral Fellowship Programme, AICTE seeks to establish a structured mechanism for connecting doctoral research with innovation, entrepreneurship and real-world applications. The programme is envisaged to support the translation of knowledge and research into solutions that can contribute to technological advancement, economic development and societal impact.
