The National Entrepreneurship Awards (www.neas.in) have been instituted by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MoSDE) to encourage a culture of entrepreneurship across the country. These premier awards seek to recognize and honour entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship ecosystem builders for their outstanding efforts.

The National Entrepreneurship Awards seek to recognize the efforts and achievements of exceptional entrepreneurs and those individuals and organisations who are working in the field of entrepreneurship development. The Awards also seek to highlight models of excellence for others to emulate and improve upon.

The scheme implementation will be overseen by a Core Committee of Implementing Partners which comprise of following premier institutes:

• Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi)
• Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur)
• Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay)
• Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras)
• Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM Ahmedabad)
• Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI Jamshedpur)
• Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai

Each year one of these institutes will be nominated as the Lead Institute for implementing the awards while others will support the program as implementing partners. For the National Entrepreneurship Awards 2016-17, IIT-Delhi has been nominated as the lead institute and which shall execute the program through FITT – the industry interface organization that enables innovations, technology commercialization and start-ups at / from IIT Delhi.

The process of scheme implementation will involve the following steps :

• Inviting applications – The process of inviting applications will begin on 10th December and the last date of receiving completed applications will be 25th December. Applications/ nominations will be:
  • Invited through advertisements in print and digital media.
  • Locally mobilized through a network of state/ district level agencies.

Applications will be preferably made online in case of offline mode, the applicant will have to download the application form, and follow the instructions given therein.
Applications will be received through self-application , except Mentor category where applications will only be received through nomination by an institute/organization, and the nominator should provide the acceptation letter from the nominee.
At the time of filling the application form, the applicant should provide industry specific mandatory certification along with necessary documents (mentioned in the application form/ guidelines). Shortlisted candidates may be asked for any other additional supporting documents.

• Initial screening and verification- Implementing partner(s) will ascertain the validity and reliability of information including verification of the credentials of the applicant/ nominee. Subsequently, after the initial screening and verification, a common pool of shortlisted candidates will be created online.
• Second level of Screening- Shortlisted applications, qualifying a predefined threshold, will be evaluated by the Lead Institute on the basis of the predefined evaluation criteria. The Lead Institute would constitute an Expert Selection Committee comprising experts from Industry, Academia, Investment/banking, NGOs etc.This Jury will evaluate the shortlisted and normalized entries received from the Implementing Partners and recommend top 3 entries per category on the on the basis of the evaluation criteria .
• Selection of the Winner –The winners will be selected by a National Jury of eminent persons drawn from academia/research, industry, social sector, banking etc. To ensure excellence of the National Award, the Jury will have the power to not award any applicant in a given category, if applications are found unsatisfactory.

Rules for Participating In National Entrepreneurship Awards

• Each individual/institution can apply in maximum two categories However, the award will only be presented in one category.
• Only applications that are submitted by the 6.00 pm on 20.12.2016 and meet all eligibility requirements will be considered for National Entrepreneurship Awards. Any late applications will not be considered.
• The decisions of the Jury and the implementation committee will be final and binding.
• Up to two representatives from winner organization will be paid travel and boarding expenses in order to attend the award ceremony. Travel expenses usually include: (1) round trip plane (economy), train or bus fare (as determined by Government of India) for the representatives to travel from the major airport/train/bus station closest to the individual’s residence to the event venue; (2) double occupancy hotel accommodation for two nights; and (3) meals. Winners are responsible for all other incidental and personal expenses.
• Finalists maybe subject to a legal due diligence review by our Implementing Partners. If the organization refuses to such a request, Government of India holds the right to select the Judges’ next highest score outcome to receive the benefits and/or Award.
• By participating in the National Entrepreneurship Awards Scheme, the enterprise agrees to Government of India’s and its partners’ use of its name, URL, photos and videos for promotional purposes on its website and in other promotional material.
• Any false information provided within the context of National Entrepreneurship Awards Scheme by any enterprise concerning identity, mailing address, telephone number, email address, ownership of right, or noncompliance with these terms and conditions or the like may result in the immediate elimination of the enterprise from the Awards process.
• Government of India reserves the right at its sole discretion to cancel, terminate, modify, or suspend the National Entrepreneurship Awards Scheme. Government of India further reserves the right to disqualify any enterprise that tampers with the submission process, commits fraud or is in violation of criminal and/or civil laws.
• Applications can be made in any national language. Application in languages other than English or Hindi must be accompanied by an English translation.
• Applications for social enterprises, women entrepreneurs, SC/ST, Persons with Disability (PwD) and difficult areas (North east/ J&K/ islands/ backward area/ rural enterprises) to be sought separately and should not be taken from the pool of applications shortlisted for the goods and service award category.
• All the Partner Institutes will be eligible to apply for the award except the Lead Institute. However, the decision of the National Jury will be final.
• By submitting an application to National Entrepreneurship Awards Scheme, the enterprise provides its full consent and acceptance of the above terms and conditions. The winner would be allowed the following facilities for attending the National Entrepreneurship Awards ceremony:
  • Air Fare (Economy) or expenditure incurred on actual mode of travel both ways, whichever is less, for two representatives.
  • Double occupancy lodging facilities for two nights, for two representatives.

For more details and online application visit: http://neas.in/index.php

For any queries, please contact info@neas.in

Last Date: 25th December, 2016