The Jharkhand Information Technology Department has identified five higher educational institutions in the state for jointly setting up startup incubation centres to promote innovation and entrepreneurship among the students community.
“We have shortlisted BIT Sindri, Central University of Jharkhand (CUJ), IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, BIT Mesra (Deoghar centre), and Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) Ranchi centre for setting up incubation centres,” said DS Verma, Project Manager, Jharkhand IT department.
The state government will support these institutions in setting up the incubation centres on their premises and running them for at least five years. Each centre will mentor at least 20 new startups every year that are approved by the State Evaluation Board.
“The state will provide Rs 1 crore in the first year and then Rs 50 lakh for the next four years totalling to Rs 3 crore per incubation centre. Apart from the 20 startups selected by the state for getting the mentorship, the institutions can use the facility for their own students to promote entrepreneurship.
“Further, the government may also expand the total number of incubation centres in tie-up with academic institutions from five to 10. The other institutions will also be selected based on a competitive process and their educational prowess,” Verma said.
It may be noted that the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Innovation Lab (ABVIL), which was set up to promote the growth of startups in the state following the Jharkhand Startup Policy of 2016, had a 24-seater incubation centre. The lab is currently not operational.
The Jharkhand IT department is working on reviving the lab in collaboration with XLRI Xavier School of Management in Jamshedpur. Simultaneously, the IT department is finalising a new startup policy to replace the old policy that lapsed in September 2021.
Verma said that apart from the collaboration with academic institutions to promote the startups in Jharkhand, there are other schemes in the proposed new startup policy that encourage and help build the ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship.
