In vitro diagnostics account for only about 2% of total healthcare spending yet influence over 66% of clinical decision-making

More than 75% of the 7 lakh annual cancer deaths in India can be prevented with early screening and diagnosis

Remote monitoring can reduce Hospitalisations and deaths in heart failure patients by 29% and 20% respectively

Studies have shown that India’s health system has a persistent challenge of limited resources – including cost of care, accessible quality care, trained professionals, and lag in uptake of effective technology solutions. Limited personnel and infrastructure constraints cause long turnaround times for diagnosis and initiation of treatment contributing to the rising disease burden, out of pocket expenditures and worsening health conditions. The window for early interventions is missed, which is critical for prevention and management of most of the chronic illnesses.

OVERVIEW

Pfizer INDovation: NIPERs Edition, with Social Alpha, Pfizer and NIPERs as anchor partners is designed to support start-ups building high-quality affordable diagnostics. The NIPERs will offer their lab infrastructure and technical expertise for product development. Social Alpha as the anchor partner for INDovation, will curate the innovations and support venture development for the selected cohort.

The program is for early-stage innovations to complete product development, user surveys and pre-clinical testing. Pfizer, Social Alpha, and partner NIPERs will collectively enable the accelerator and support the innovators to build contextual solutions to improve the healthcare system in India.

Focus Areas

Screening and Diagnosis
Continuum of Care
  • For improvement of health outcomes, care should be accessible beyond hospitals as well. To enable continuum of care at home, the program aims to support development of solutions that enable remote monitoring of patients’ conditions, quick clinical response to episodes and high compliance to care protocols.

Who Should Apply

The program aims to support the progression of six healthtech start-ups (with a working proof of concept demonstrated) that are building innovative solutions to make high-quality diagnostics accessible.

Program Offerings

The program aims to accelerate the development of 6 Indian innovations to improve ease of access to diagnostics and treatment monitoring. The start-ups will receive a grant amount of up to INR 25 lakhs and acceleration support from Social Alpha and NIPERs towards:
Assistance in Product Development: Access to NIPERs’ prototyping labs/infrastructure, funds, and technical mentorship
Advisory for Design for Manufacturing: Guidance on optimising the product design by NIPERs’ technical experts
Tech Transfer Support from NIPERs: Explore collaboration opportunities for tech transfer with academia etc. through NIPERs ecosystem
Advisory on Regulatory Roadmap Planning: Guidance from Social Alpha to align various regulatory and quality documents in line with statutory and international standards requirements
Pre-Clinical Studies with Partner Hospitals: Access to Social Alpha’s ecosystem for demonstration of safety and working of the solution in lab-settings (controlled and non-interventional
Customer Discovery and Market Identification: Engagement with stakeholders (Tertiary care, Community Health Organisations, NGOs) part of Social Alpha’s network to validate problem statements, clinical fitment, and user experience

Important Dates

  • Applications Open

    October 9th, 2023

  • Deadline for Applications

    November 6th, 2023

  • Evaluation of Applications

    End of November, 2023

  • Jury Round

    December 4th and 5th, 2023

  • Announcement of Winners

    December 8th, 2023

  • Induction and Launch of the Accelerator

    Mid December, 2023

  • Incubation for 12 months

    January 2024 to December 2024

Our Partners

frequently asked questions
frequently asked questions

ELIGIBILITY

1. Who can apply for the program?

Early prototype stage innovations that have quick turnaround time for tests, require minimum or no infrastructure to set up or operate and has less dependence on skilled professionals to use/run the tests can apply for the program. The solutions should enable screening, diagnosis and continuum of care.

2. I am a college student working on a technology. Can I apply for the program?

Yes, you are welcome to apply if you have a working product or platform that has a product solution for the target problem statements and an established entity (DPIIT recognized). An applicant showing strong intent and a well-defined roadmap to market and infrastructure to support it has a higher chance of getting selected in the cohort.

3. Can I submit more than one application for different technologies?

Yes, applicants can submit multiple applications, but each application must feature a distinct technology/process/innovation. However, in the final decision, only one application (if selected) will be considered per enterprise.

Program Offerings

1. What are the different benefits that the top start-ups of the program get?

Selected innovations will receive access to NIPERs’ infrastructure and guidance for product development, access to Social Alpha’s network for early-stage validation, customer discovery and market identification and advisory for regulatory roadmap.

2. What is the grant structure?

Grant can be utilized for expenses related to pre-clinical product validation and user experience surveys, product development and design for manufacturing. The grant disbursement is in tranches, and subject to milestone achievements.

Follow-on Funding

1.Will I be eligible to receive dilutive funding by Social Alpha upon selection?

This will be determined on a case-to-case basis. Start-ups will have the opportunity to pitch for the funding by Social Alpha. The decision will be subject to due diligence, mutual agreement on terms of engagement, and subject to approval by investment committee.

Selection Process

1. What are the important dates to remember during the selection process? By when will the results be announced?
Date Event
9th October 2023 Launch Date/ Application Start Date
6th November 2023 Application deadline
28th November 2023 Announcement of the top 12 start-ups shortlisted
8th December 2023 Announcement of the top 6 start-ups shortlisted
2. Can I submit my application post deadline?

No, applications submitted post the stated deadline will not be considered for evaluation. There are no possibilities for lateral entry into the program.

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Terms and Conditions
Terms and Conditions

Pfizer NIPER Social Alpha Program Challenge Guidelines

1. About Pfizer NIPER Social Alpha Program

Pfizer NIPER Social Alpha Program aims to augment the care delivery pathway in India by leveraging entrepreneurship, innovation and technology. The program is a 12-month long accelerator for early stage HealthTech start-ups working on transformative innovations to improve the healthcare system in India.

2. About Pfizer NIPER and Social Alpha

Pfizer is committed to contribute towards Startup India by helping create healthcare innovations made in India, for India and the world. The vision is to lead a movement of change for better care and work towards long-term changes that are sustainable
NIPER aims to strive towards excellence in Pharmaceutical Sciences & Management and strengthen the Indian Pharma industry in obtaining quality products at affordable prices.
Social Alpha’s theory of change revolves around developing entrepreneurial solutions to societal problems. Our architecture integrates innovation, incubation, & investment ecosystems to aggregate & allocate resources to mission-driven entrepreneurs.

3. Eligibility Criteria
  • A startup recognised by DPIIT
  • Start-up should be at TRL 3 stage i.e., completion of proof-of-concept demonstration.
  • The start-up should be working on innovative solutions for screening, diagnosis and remote monitoring that can improve health outcomes.
  • Shareholding by Indian promoters in the start-up should be at least 51% at the time of application to incubator for the scheme, as per Companies Act, 2013 and SEBI (ICDR) Regulations, 2018.
  • The grant shall be used for development of a working prototype, early validation and market identification.
  • The grant is not generally given for service start-ups working in Trade and Commerce.
4. Areas covered under the funding support:

The selected start-ups will be supported in the following areas:

  • Direct costs related to development of a prototype to demonstrate the proposed technology solution.
  • Testing, certifications and pre-clinical study trials
  • Travelling expenses to work out of the selected NIPERs.
5. Following expenses will not be supported by the grant:

The selected start-ups will be supported in the following areas:

  • Repayment of loans or any investments made by the founding team or any other person in the venture to date.
  • Pure research projects that intend to demonstrate scientific priniciples
  • Ideas with no intention of commercialisation I.e., to convert into marketable technologies/products/services.
  • Innovations with serious ethical and safety risks deemed infeasible by experts and have serious health consequences.
  • Funding cannot be used to support student/faculty research or any other academic research.

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Apply Now

For any assistance needed in filling the application form, please reach out to us at

pfizerindovation@socialalpha.org