CII sets up centre for startups in Telangana

Industry association CII on Saturday said it has set up a centre in Telangana to help startups to connect with large business houses and corporates.

CII Centre for Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Startups will also focus on deep-tech startups in the manufacturing sector to help create unicorns.

S Gopalakrishnan, Chairman of CII National Startup Council, said, the centre will focus on connecting the three lakh members of the industry body with startups through mutually beneficial partnerships.

"We want to look at the entire ecosystem of startups - all the way from how to take research from lab to market, how to look at innovation that's relevant to society, how to address the societal problems using startups, how to then encourage funding for both proof of concept as well as initial setting up for the business and then capital for scaling the business," he said.

The centre will provide thought leadership, shared knowledge, policy suggestions, hand holding to startups and student entrepreneurs, he added.

It will offer landing pad and enable connections of Indian startups with those from other nations, thus helping to complement and strengthen each other's entrepreneurship ecosystems.

Gopalakrishnan also noted that the focus needs to be on adding more job creators than job seekers, which will change the job scenario in the country.

CII Centre for Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Startups is supported by the Telangana government by way of space at T-Hub technology startup incubator in the city, and Pratiksha, a charitable trust founded by Gopalakrishnan.

Telangana IT Minister K T Rama Rao, who launched the Centre, said, the facility will provide the right mix of entrepreneurial elements mentorship, access to capital and safety net for experimentation that will strengthen the startup ecosystem in not just Telangana, but across India.

"We also intend to provide access to more sources of capital, and are actively learning from other leading ecosystems, such as Silicon Valley, London, Singapore and many others. We are also looking for partnerships and market exchange opportunities for our startups with other ecosystems," he said.

Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General of Confederation of Indian Industry, said, the centre will bring the startups to work together with the large business houses and corporates through CII network, and focus on deep tech startups in the manufacturing sector by creating a pool of potential startups from young researcher community and help them developing business plans and with investment.

It will buttress the entrepreneurial partnerships and create newer avenues for generating a great deal of wealth and a sizeable employment simultaneously in the quickest possible time, he added.

The centre will curate a customised programme for corporate houses and enable connect with the right startups based on industry's needs and future strategies.

It will also help investors select potential startups for committing financial stake, build partnerships with the national and international academic centres of excellence for imparting knowledge to and assistance in capacity development of budding startups, and work with the central and state governments to forge partnerships with foreign governments to launch mutual soft-landing.