- STPI will also announce seed funding to 28 beneficiaries of CoEs and NGIS programs with funding up to Rs 25 lakh
- 75 start-ups from STPI’s Centres of Entrepreneurship and NGIS scheme exhibited their products/prototypes
- 14 Challenge Programs were announced to select more than 150 start-ups in different focus areas across the country
NE BUSINESS BUREAU
NEW DELHI, JULY 5
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Digital India Week on Monday, a Digital Expo – Digital Mela at Gandhinagar, Gujarat, organized by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) with the arching theme ‘Digital India: Catalyzing New India’s Techade’ – a digital transformation journey for showcasing India’s Technological prowess to the world.
On the second day i.e. Tuesday, a National Conference for Startups was organized in which thought leaders from startups and industry shared their insightful views. STPI launches a series of Challenge Programs (OCPs) and announcements of seed funding to startups under NGIS and CoEs. The program is launched with a vision to identify, recognize & reward aspiring, and early-stage tech entrepreneurs in the country.
Around 75 start-ups from software Technology Parks of India’s Centres of Entrepreneurship (CoEs) and NGIS scheme exhibited their products/prototypes at Digital Mela. Till date, STPI has launched 42 OCPs/cohorts for the selection of start-ups for 20 operationalized CoEs in the emerging technology domains such as FinTech, Blockchain, ESDM, ACES Mobility, MedTech, AgriTech, IoT & AI, etc. across the country along with three CHUNAUTI (Challenge Hunt Under NGIS for Advanced Uninhibited Technology Intervention) under Next Generation Incubation Scheme.
MyScheme
દેશના પ્રત્યેક નાગરિકની પાત્રતા અનુસાર સરકારી યોજનાઓ સુધીની પહોંચ બની સરળ#IndiasTechade pic.twitter.com/YY60MDszlB— CMO Gujarat (@CMOGuj) July 5, 2022
The vision is to drive the rise of India as a Software Product Nation so as to make India a global player in the development, production, and supply of Innovative, Efficient, and Secure Software Products thus facilitating the growth across the entire spectrum of the ICT sector as envisioned in the National Policy on Software Products (NPSP) – 2019.
Commenting on this, Dr Rajendra Kumar, Additional Secretary, MeitY on the occasion said, “In tandem with the mandated objectives of Digital India, Start-up India, and Atmanirbhar Bharat, The Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY) has undertaken a slew of proactive, pre-emptive, and graded measures to spur the technology-led startup-innovation ecosystem in the country and giving an impetus to the new and emerging technologies. MeitY through its various initiatives and schemes supports more than 1000 startups with a yearly budgetary outlay of approximately Rs 100 crores.”
Arvind Kumar, Director General, STPI highlighted, “The Indian tech startup ecosystem has been revolutionized with several government initiatives like Startup India, MSH, NGIS, etc. Aligned with the vision of the government, STPI has further contributed to the growth of startup ecosystem in Tier 2 & 3 cities by implementing NGIS. Moreover, STPI CoEs are another step towards accelerating innovation and product development in emerging technology domains, since the launch of Digital India.”
14 Challenge Programs were announced to select more than 150 start-ups in different focus areas across the country which include
- Launch of “Build for Bharat IoT Start-up Challenge “in association with Industry: To be launched in collaboration with Jio Things Ltd. (JTL) to support 20 start-ups &entrepreneurs for building the next generation consumer/business-centric innovative solutions.
- Two Challenge Programs wherein, one is the Open Challenge Program (OCP) for ESDM CoE at Bhubaneshwar and another is the Idea Challenge Program (ICP) for Blockchain CoE at Gurugram.
- OCP for ESDM CoE at Bhubaneshwar.
- ICP for Blockchain CoE at Gurugram.
- 11 OCPs for CHUNAUTI– Pan India from eleven STPI Jurisdictional Directorates with different themes.
These programs cover the entire spectrum of emerging technology and most of the states of the country. Under “Build for Bharat IoT Start-up Challenge program”, JTL will provide mentorship & support around Tech, Product Strategy, Go-To-Market along with funding support of Rs 26 Lakh in form of monetary and non-monetary benefits to the selected start-ups. Under ICP & OCP programs, the selected start-ups & aspiring entrepreneurs shall also be facilitated through strategic networking, financial assistance, mentoring, providing support for training, marketing, patenting, and access to the labs, tools, software, and state-of-the-art incubation facility.
STPI will also announce seed funding to 28 beneficiaries of CoEs and NGIS programs with funding up to Rs 25 lakh. Seed funding will significantly help the startups to realize their product dreams.
