Centre pushes for maritime innovation with Sagarmala Start-Up policy

NEW DELHI: A draft under the ‘Sagarmala innovation and start-up policy’ was recently put up for discussionandstakeholdercomments.

AccordingtoaMinistryofficial,mostof themaritimeinnovationsinvolvecomplex hardware and factoring-in marine pollution regulations. And it takes “at least 2 years to reach a minimum viableproduct.”

Even in case of digital solutions, it is noteasytoimplementstart-upproducts and services due to varied stakeholders involved and State-specific regulations. Hence, early-stage seed funding will be required to complete a minimum viable product in small scale to pilot scale phases.

“This (policy) will surely promote innovation and entrepreneurship,” Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister forPorts,ShippingandWaterways,said.

Tracxn, which tracks investments and financials of private companies and start-ups, says there are 48 maritime tech start-ups in the country. Some of these include ShipsKart, Planys Technologies,PortallandNavAlt.

The draft proposes 12 broad areas that could be considered in the firstthreeyears.

These include decarbonisation of the maritime industry and adopting green-tech in the port sector — something that the Ministry itself has beenpushingoverthelastfewweeks.

The other big thrust areas include using AI and ML (Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning) to improve efficiency, enhancing security using block-chain, and augmenting marine cyber-security.

Adopting new age maritime education and learning through simulation and augmented reality; strengthening manufacturing; enhancing cargo and passenger movement; exploring the possibility of using alternate or advance materials; pushing e-navigating and smart-tech are some areas where the Ministry is expectingsolutionsfromstart-ups

A three-layered monitoring structure has been proposed — an apex committee, that will be monitored by the maritime innovation hub, which in turn will be monitored by the start-up monitoring and evaluationgroup.

The Apex Committee — consisting of Shipping Secretary as Chairman, seven other members that includes Additional Secretaries and Joint Secretaries of the Ministry; Chairman of the Inland Waterways Authority of India and Chairman of the Indian Ports Association; and Joint Secretary of the Sagarmala project as Member Secretary — will oversee the “overall governanceoftheprogram.”