CHANDIGARH: With an aim to give further impetus to entrepreneurship and innovation in the state, the Startup Punjab Cell on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Punjab State Council for Science & Technology during a ceremony organised at Udyog Bhawan here.
Secretary-cum-Director Industries & Commerce Sibin C, who is also the State Startup Nodal Officer signed the MOU on behalf of Startup Punjab, while Executive Director Dr Jatinder Kaur Arora signed on behalf of Punjab State Council for Science & Technology.
Startup Punjab and Punjab State Council for Science & Technology have pledged to work together to further facilitate startups by extending their respective institutional expertise in terms of network, relationships, technology, knowledge, and management aspects towards strengthening the Punjab entrepreneurship ecosystem.
“The State of Punjab has a rich tradition of entrepreneurship that dates back several decades, and Punjabis have gone on to establish strong businesses in different sectors such as Agri and Food Processing, Textiles, Pharmaceuticals, IT/ITeS, Steel, Manufacturing etc, ” said Sibin C, while adding that Startup Punjab is committed to strengthening the startup ecosystem of the state by providing mentorship, fiscal support, incubation and acceleration support.
He said that this MOU with Punjab State Council for Science & Technology will go a long way in bolstering the startup and innovation ecosystem in the State by providing much needed IP (Intellectual Property) support and technical aid to the startups. Entrepreneurs can avail R&D assistance and business and technical mentorship to scale their ideas, he added.
Executive Director PSCST Dr Jatinder Kaur Arora said, “Punjab State Council for Science & Technology has always stood by the budding entrepreneurs and innovators in Punjab and supported them in giving wings to their startup ambitions. This partnership with Startup Punjab will provide R&D and technical linkages for helping startups develop prototypes as well as for providing Patent support to entrepreneurs.”
“Startup Punjab Cell has been continuously working to boost Punjab’s startup ecosystem through various workshops, bootcamps, and partnerships. To encourage entrepreneurship in the State, Startup Punjab offers various fiscal incentives such as Seed Funding, Interest Subsidy, Lease Rental Subsidy as outlined in Industrial and Business Development Policy (IBDP), 2017. Furthermore, all incentives which are available for MSME units are also available to Startup Units as per IBDP 2017, ” Sibin C further said.
Meanwhile, some recent initiatives by Startup Punjab include the Punjab Student Entrepreneurship Scheme (in collaboration with Dept. of Technical Education and Dept. of Higher Education) which will provide for 20% attendance relaxation and 4% grace marks in academic courses for students who pursue entrepreneurship and innovation during their studies at their university/college, the 500-seater Startup Punjab Hub (Neuron) @ STPI Mohali which will offer plug-n-play space to startups and has a state-of-the-art AI/Data Analytics Lab, organising a series of six masterclasses for State’s incubators for capacity building of the incubator managers, the budding entrepreneurship program for handholding youth of the State, and various other initiatives. Startup Punjab Cell is providing support to Punjab Innovation Mission , a privately run body which will run a sector-agnostic Incubator and Accelerator at Kalkat Bhawan Mohali and will also set up the Punjab Innovation Fund.