Financial Assistance for Intellectual Property (IP) Support

Gujarat Government is making persistent efforts for creating a holistic innovation & startup ecosystem involving industry, academia and government. The Education Department, Government of Gujarat has extended the Student Startup and Innovation Policy (SSIP 2.0) & allocated a corpus of INR 500 Crores to support early-stage student innovators and startups to develop their prototypes and venture into creative projects.

Gujarat Student Startup and Innovation Hub (i-Hub) runs various flagship initiatives to provide end-to-end support for innovators and startups.

The objective of this initiative is to provide structured financial assistance to innovators and startups for securing Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), thereby promoting innovation, protecting novel ideas and technologies and strengthening the innovation ecosystem in Gujarat. The scheme aims to reduce the financial burden associated with IP protection and encourage innovators to safeguard their intellectual property effectively.

Financial Assistance for Intellectual Property (IP) is one such flagship initiative by i-Hub which aims to support innovative ideas and startups in availing the grants (UPTO INR 5 Lakh) for the taking their Idea & Proof to Concept (PoC) to the Product/Market Stage.

Who are eligible to leverage Financial Assistance for Intellectual Property (IP):

Any student, innovator, startup founder or co-founder, director or partner up to 35 years of age shall be eligible for the IP Support Grant if they fulfill any one of the following conditions:

1. Any student or alumni eligible for benefits under SSIP 2.0;
2. The startup is registered under Gujarat ROC and recognized as a startup by DPIIT;
3. The beneficiary has availed benefits under the SSIP 2.0 Policy;
4. The beneficiary has availed benefits under any startup scheme of the Government of Gujarat;
5. The startup/innovator has availed benefits under any scheme currently implemented by i-Hub or is a beneficiary of any flagship program of i-Hub;

The proposed IP should also demonstrate originality, innovation or distinctiveness, as applicable to the relevant IPR category. The innovators and Startups aspiring to avail this could be in any stage.

Innovators/Startups in the below-given stages can avail of the Financial Assistance for Intellectual Property (IP):

1. Ideation (Pre Prototype/Proof of Concept),
2. Validation (Minimum Viable Product, MVP),
3. Early Stage,
4. Growth / Revenue / Scaling;

Financial Assistance for IP support as per Guidelines for IPR Support under SSIP 2.0:

Important Financial / Compliance Conditions:

1. The approved IP Support Grant is disbursed in two instalments: 70% first instalment and 30% second instalment.
2. The applicant shall make payment directly to the selected empaneled IP Facilitator for required IP filing services.
3. The second instalment is released after utilization of at least 70% of the first instalment and submission of the required Utilization Certificate (UTC).
4. A final Utilization Certificate shall be submitted after completion of the IP grant process.
5. The grant is valid for 2 years from the date of disbursement.
6. Any unutilized balance shall be returned to i-Hub Gujarat.
7. i-Hub Gujarat may undertake physical / virtual verification or third-party evaluation, wherever considered necessary.
8. Financial assistance may be recovered in cases of misrepresentation, misuse of funds, or non-compliance as per prevailing norms.

The applicant shall select an IP Facilitator from the list of IP Facilitators empaneled by GKS/i-Hub and avail the required IP support services.

Click here to download the List of Empaneled IP Facilitators at i-Hub Gujarat

For any queries related to Financial Assistance for Intellectual Property (IP) Support, you can email us at ipfc@ihubgujarat.in