US, India join hands to promote innovation

The Indian and US governments, in association with industry lobby Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Tuesday launched a joint initiative to promote innovation in India and other parts of the world.

The "Millennium Alliance" will function in the public-private-partnership mode.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) and FICCI will each contribute $7.7 million to fund the initiative while the Indian government's Technology Development Board has pledged $5 million.

USAID and FICCI target to raise an additional $35 million to the fund the new initiative by mid-2013, bringing the total amount leveraged to at least $50 million, according to a statement issued by the American embassy here.

"The Millennium Alliance will leverage Indian creativity, expertise, and resources to support and scale innovative solutions to development problems that will benefit populations across India and the world," US Ambassador to India Nancy J. Powell said at the inaugural function.

She said the Alliance will provide innovators with essential resources such as seed funding, business incubation services, networking opportunities, and technical assistance, and will facilitate their access to equity, debt, and other capital.

At the inaugural event, FICCI unveiled the programme website and announced the first call for applications inviting Indian innovators to apply for grant funding to develop and scale their innovations.