By 2021, Gujarat will support more than 2,000 startups
The state government has also announced a grand challenge for startups, with a total prize money of Rs 3 crore.
In a bid to boost its startup ecosystem, the government of Gujarat has announced that it will support 2,000 startups in the state by 2021, said Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, in the Vibrant Gujarat Startup and Technology Summit in Gandhinagar.
Inaugurating the event at the exhibition ground in Gandhinagar, Rupani said, “I am pleased to see so many young faces in the audience. This shows that the youth of Gujarat is an active participant in Gujarat’s vibrant economy and it is the youth that will find the solutions for our development goals through innovative ideas and thinking. The Gujarat State Government currently supports 184 startups and we aim to support up to 2,000 start-ups at the cost of 7,000 crore rupees by the year 2021.”
The state government is also organising a series of events ahead of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2019. The second edition of the three-day summit started in Gandhinagar on Thursday with one key objective - to attract the brightest entrepreneurial minds from across the nation to ideate, innovate and help them shape their idea for the development of the state and the nation. It also aims to create an ideal startup ecosystem to compete with the best in the world, and create a lasting network of relationships for all stakeholders of the ecosystem.
The Gujarat government also announced a grand challenge for startups that comes with a cool prize money of Rs 3 crore, aimed at solving far reaching problems in the society in the following sectors: agri-tech, fintech, smart and shared mobility, women centric solutions, manufacturing 4.0, governance 2030, maritime and military intelligence, and health-tech.
Dr JN Singh, Chief Secretary of the Government of Gujarat said, “This would provide an excellent opportunity and a platform for startup, innovators and entrepreneurs to develop an affordable and sustainable solutions that improve and change the developmental landscape of the country. With the focus on solving challenges, we have received an enormous response from across the country with more than 1,200 applications and I am pleased to see that more than two-third of the applications are from Gujarat.”
NASSCOM President, Debjani Ghosh, while speaking about the entrepreneurial spirit of Gujarat, said, “In a few years India will have a trillion-dollar IT economy and Gujarat should have 10 percent share in the coming years. Gujarat should aim to develop talent to leverage the existing technology to disrupt markets in positive way.”