According to the new innovation and startup policy released by the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD), student entrepreneurs should be allowed to sit for the examination. It should be done even if their attendance is less than the minimum permissible percentage but with due permission from the institute.

The MHRD’s Innovation Cell or the MIC, which recently released the policy read, ” The National Innovation and Startup Policy 2019 for students and faculty of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) will enable the institutes to actively engage students, faculties and staff in innovation and entrepreneurship related activities. This framework will also facilitate Ministry of Human Resource Development in bringing uniformity across HEIs in terms of Intellectual Property ownership management, technology licensing and institutional Startup policy, thus enabling creation of a robust innovation and Start up ecosystem across all HEIs.”

The new policy has also directed the institutes to allow students to take a semester or year break to work on their startups. MIC also asked the committee to review the start ups set by students and based on the progress made, appropriate academic credits are to be given. “Investment in the entrepreneurial activities should be a part of the institutional financial strategy. Minimum 1% fund of the total annual budget of the institution should be allocated for funding and supporting innovation and startups related activities through creation of separate ‘Innovation fund’,” it said.

The policy, which has been prepared by a fifteen member committee constituted by MHRD covers Intellectual Property ownership, revenue sharing mechanism, norms for technology transfer and commercialisation. The policy covering IPR and entrepreneurship has been developed for the first time by MHRD.