Mysore/Mysuru: South Western Railway (SWR), Mysuru Division, had organised a workshop on ‘Indian Railway Innovation Policy (IRIP) – Start-Up for Railways’ at the Chamundi Club in Yadavagiri on July 19.

Addressing the participants, Rahul Agarwal, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), SWR, Mysuru, said that the workshop aimed to encourage Start-Ups to come up with solutions to improve Operational efficiency and safety on Indian Railways.

About 24 Start-Ups, MSMEs and other entities from across Karnataka participated in person while 19 entities joined through video-conference.

Rahul Agarwal highlighted the salient features of IRIP such as grant up to Rs. 1.5 crore to innovator on equal sharing basis with provision of milestone-wise payment, complete online processing with 100% transparency, assistance from Railways for carrying out trials of prototypes, enhanced funding on successful performance of prototypes, retention of developed Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) with innovator, etc.

Agarwal said that the world is currently witnessing 4th industrial revolution with ever evolving next generation technology tools like Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Big data Analytics, Cloud Computing, multifaceted drone technology, Robotics, Nano technology etc.  Start-Ups in India are on the rise and many young innovative entrepreneurs have chosen to invest and innovate within our country.

He also urged the Start-Ups, MSMEs, Innovators and other firms present during the workshop to join this initiative and enrich themselves as well as Indian Railways.

For information on this, Start-Ups, MSMEs and other entities may login to the Indian Railways Innovation Portal [https://inno vation.indianrailways.gov.in/].

A. Devasahayam and E. Vijaya, Additional Divisional Railway Managers, Levin Prabhu, Senior Divisional Finance Manager and Other Senior Branch Officers were present during the day long workshop.