NRDC invests in a start-up incubated at IIT-Kanpur

New Delhi: National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) has signed an investment agreement with Acquafront Infrastructure Pvt Ltd. (AIPL), which is a Kanpur-based start-up, on Thursday. Under this agreement, NRDC has offered investment to the start-up in the seed funding round under the DSIR's seed funding scheme. NRDC has acquired 8 percent stake in the company, NRDC's Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) Dr H Purushotham said.

Scope of the agreement

The innovative product "Steel integrated Floating Jetty (SIFJ)" is designed as a one-stop solution for all kinds of floatation applications by the start-up. The concept is inspired from "Self-Adjusting Fixed Type Jetty (SAFTJ)" technology, for which Acquafront Infrastructure Pvt Ltd holds the patent and had also received the NRDC Innovation Award of the Year in 2018. The SIFJ modules are designed for easy transportation and handling and can be customised to meet all kinds of floatation requirements of the industry.

The backdrop

Recently, NRDC had signed a technology licensing agreement for the manufacturing know-how of NavRakshak PPE suite with an Agra-based MSME. The NavRakshak PPE has been designed and developed principally by Dr Arnab Ghosh, who is also a Naval Doctor, incorporating his personal experiences in using the PPE for the comfort and protection of the doctors. The MSME entity is already manufacturing PPE kits in and around Agra and supplying to various hospitals and has now proposed an annual production target of over one million NavRakshak PPEs to meet the increased requirement of PPEs enforced by Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis.

National Research Development Corporation (NRDC)

National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) was established in 1953 by the government, with the primary objective to promote, develop and commercialise the technologies/know-how/inventions/patents/processes emanating from various national R&D institutions/universities. It is presently working under the administrative control of the Department of Scientific & Industrial Research, Ministry of Science & Technology. During the past six decades of its existence and in pursuance of its corporate goals, NRDC has forged strong links with the scientific and industrial community in India and abroad and developed a wide network of research institutions, academia and industry

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