Holy city of Tirupati all set to have a tech accelerator from Texas University

On Tuesday, it was reported that the Andhra Pradesh government, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) along with IC2 Institute from University of Texas is all set to launch a technology accelerator in Tirupati, next month.

The reason behind setting up the accelerator is to address the issue of unemployment, while building technology for state specific problems such as water management, agricultural technology, security and waste management.

With applications already pouring in, the accelerator is expected to shortlist 33 technology startups for the four month long programme. Further, the companies will be filtered down to eight and then four respectively, which would receive mentorship and opportunities to approach potential investors.

Speaking on the same, Glenn Robinson, Director of the accelerator said,

This accelerator is trying to create more jobs by encouraging entrepreneurship, technology and innovation. We are also looking at opportunities to bring technologies that don't exist here - possibly from the States or from other countries, to create more jobs.

The accelerator is also looking at possible partnerships with other accelerators in the country and will have an office in Austin, Texas.

In India, there is Kyron Global Accelerator, Microsoft, Khosla Labs, Target and Google’s Launchpad Accelerator’ amongst others which selects, accelerate and mentor technology startups.

This month, multinationals like Oracle, Cisco and SAP entered the race of launching their technology accelerators, taking the count to six corporate accelerators in the country.