Research and Business Development (R&BD) is one of the major functional areas to plan, support, and develop the research projects and business strategy of the Nepal Technology Innovation Center (NTIC). Its strategy can lead to innovation and increased productivity and boost business competitive advantages. This includes increasing revenues, growth in terms of business expansion, and increasing profitability by building strategic partnerships and making strategic business decisions.
KU-IRDP/NTIC aims to serve as a research and business development platform of Nepal through relevant operational/support programs. The business development platform will incorporate all aspects for growing a business from a concept phase to a fully operational stage. The core of the project is to promote the integrated development of the community through the strengthening of R&BD capabilities. The support from R&BD may range from prototype/ process/ technique development and improvement, production and packaging support, and commercialization support.
In the first phase, R&BD had announced an application call within Kathmandu University in the following sectors:
- Agriculture and Rural Development
- Alternative and Renewable Energy
- Health-Related Livelihood
- Other Sectors Contributing to Integrated Rural Development
The selected projects will serve as flagship projects of KU-IRDP/NTIC.
In the next phase, R&BD has announced the nationwide open calls within the above-mentioned three thematic areas. It is open to all Nepalese citizens (for e.g.business people, students, researchers, entrepreneurs, and other innovation centers). Those selected projects will be supported in terms of propagation of the existing technologies or innovative products/processes and commercialization for the development of rural communities. Similarly, R&BD will support other functional areas as per their need during the project duration.
Objectives
- To support R&BD in the three identified thematic areas (Agriculture, Renewable Energy, and Health-related livelihood) and other possible areas through centrally run laboratories and rural research and development programs.
- To serve as a research and development platform of Nepal through relevant operational/support programs.
- To examine the feasibility of projects from the initial stage, conduct research in stages.
- Establish and adjust the direction at each stage to enable commercialization. (As the main scope will be research and development activities that can directly contribute to commercial purposes and commercialization of the private sector to differentiate it from the various research institutes that carry out the basic research field.)
Total Supporting Fund and Period of Program within KU
| Category | Detail |
| Total Support Fund | 3,00,00,000 |
| Support Period | 2022.01 - 2023.04 (Within 16 months) |
| Maximum Support Fund | Up to NRs. 5,000,000 per project |
Eligibility for the Application
The following eligibility criteria needed to be fulfilled for the application:
For Principal Investigator/s (PIs):
- Must be a Nepalese citizen
- PI may be an individual or from any institution or from any consortium based in Nepal.
- The project team is preferred to be organized into a consortium of PI and partner organizations including university, industry, NGO, a private firm, etc.
For Partner Institution
- Individual partners must be Nepalese citizens.
- A partner institution must be based in Nepal
Eligible Types of Projects
- The eligible projects can be of the following types:
- The project that deals with any one of the above-mentioned thematic areas
- The technology development project that links all the mentioned thematic areas and is cross-cutting areas will be given priority.
Application Processes
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The period of application and place of submission are as follows;
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Category |
Period and Method |
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Call for application |
The announcement in the Kathmandu University website and KU-IRDP/NTIC website. November 21 to December 21. the virtual press meet will also be organized for the announcement of the call on 21 November 2021. The announcement of the call will be published in the national newspaper on November 21, 2021 A briefing session will also be organized to clear the queries of the applicant on December 10, 2021 |
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Application form and relevant templates |
Available at the website of Kathmandu University and KU-IRDP/NTIC (for download) November 25 to December 21, 2021 |
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Submission of project proposal and required documents |
Drop off a hard copy at KU-IRDP/NTIC office at KU or Send an electronic copy via email at ntic@ku.edu.np on November 25 to December 21, 2021 |
Please Click Here for all the relevant documents related to the R&BD application call