Royal Norwegian Embassy Fellowship Grant for battery energy storage

This fellowship supported innovators working on battery energy storage for rural and urban communities, funded by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in New Delhi and Innovation Norway and run in collaboration with AIC ISB and TERI in New Delhi. Twelve fellowships were on offer. Applications closed on 25 February 2025, so it is closed today.

It ran in two phases of three months each. Phase one covered mentoring on the Sustainable Development Goals, entrepreneurial skills and life skills, with fellows evaluated at the end on whether the innovation was useful and implementable for the local community, sustainable and environmentally sound, contributed to the circular economy, and could be commercialised or scaled. Those who passed went into phase two, an acceleration phase with a further grant to build prototypes, commercialise or implement in the community.

What you get

• A phase-wise grant, paid in two instalments per phase
• Mentoring from AIC ISB and TERI
• Personalised mentorship from subject-matter experts and introductions through local partnerships
• Help refining the idea into an actionable roadmap
• Preparation for putting the innovation into practice

Who can apply

• Indian citizens aged 18 or above, from any educational background, with a valid PAN card
• Resident or working in Punjab, or with an idea already implemented in Punjab or implementable there
• Preference to ideas at MVP stage; gender equity encouraged

How selection works: applications went through a verification check and then an interview, scored on relevance to the local community and whether it could be implemented, sustainability and environmental impact, contribution to the circular economy, and potential to commercialise or scale.

How to apply: applications were taken on the fellowship portal linked from the programme page. Mentoring was online, so no relocation was needed.