Research and Business Development (R&BD) Application Call

Background

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 will announce and select at least 5 projects within Kathmandu University in the following sectors:

1. Health Related Livelihood and other areas

The selected projects will serve as flagship projects of KU-IRDP/NTIC.

In the next phase, R&BD will announce open calls for at least 5 projects within the above -mentioned three thematic areas. It will be open to 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 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

Eligibility for the Application 

The following eligibility criteria needed to be fulfilled for the application:

For Principal Investigator/s (PIs):

1. Must be Kathmandu University (KU) faculty or,
2. Individual researcher from KU with at least master degree from recognized institution.
3. The project team is preferred to be organized into a consortium of KU and external organizations (e.g., industry).

Eligible Types of Projects

• New Product/process Development Project: the project that creates new product/ process by developing creative and novel technology of commercial value/interest.
• Technology Commercialization/Propagation Project: the project that commercializes or propagates existing technologies or innovative products/processes for developing rural communities.

Application Processes

• The period of application and place of submission are as follows;

Please Click Here for all the relevant documents related to R&BD application call

1. R&BD Application Call
2. Operational Plan
3. Guidelines for R&BD Accounting and Budgeting
4. Management and Operational Guidelines

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