Lucknow: The country’s largest international incubation center in about 2.5 Lakh square feet space is planned to be established in the state capital Lucknow soon.
Uttar Pradesh Electronics Corporation, the startup Nodal Agency in the state has already identified a land opposite Amausi Airport and is in talks with Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), a Government of India organization to build and operate this center.
To expedite the project CM himself intervened and has written to the Ministry of IT & Electronics, Government of India for roping in STPI to assist the state government in implementing this much-awaited project, official sources here on Friday said.
STPI in this regard recently made a presentation to the Infrastructure & Industrial Development Commissioner (IIDC), Government of UP sharing their plan and the scale of the project. STPI during the presentation also demonstrated its capabilities through recently established State of the art Center of Excellence in Mohali Chandigarh.
UP Dy CM Dr. Dinesh Sharma has expressed his commitment and full support from the government to all agencies working to materialize this initiative.
State Minister Ajit Pal Singh is also actively involved and is continuously monitoring the progress through various briefing sessions for the creation of plug & play infrastructure for startups incubating in the state.
Additional chief secretary, Department of IT & Electronics Alok Kumar said here on Friday that the proposed facility would be developed on Plug & Play model following the global standards to offer an all-inclusive ecosystem helping startups and innovators realize their dreams.
This mammoth Incubation Center will work on a Hub and Spoke model wherein the Largest incubator will act as Hub for all other government recognized incubators and E-Cells in the state to draw synergies from the hub for their capacity development and growth, he said.
The government has also received a proposal from IIT Kanpur to establish a Center of Excellence on Artificial Intelligence in Noida.
Moreover, the Government of UP is working with STPI to develop IT Parks in various Tier II/III cities like Meerut, Prayagraj, Gorakhpur, Agra, Lucknow, Kanpur, Bundelkhand, Bareilly, etc.
The Prayagraj IT Park has become operational and is functioning at full occupancy, whereas Meerut IT Park is in advance stages of development and is expected to be operational by November 2020. Agra and Gorakhpur IT Park’s construction is also in full swing and is expected to be complete by December 2020. These parks provide incubation facilities.
STPI is also assisting the Government to establish UP’s first Center of Excellence in MediTech at SGPGI Lucknow.
UP government has undertaken realignment of the state startup policy in accordance with the startup ranking framework which resulted in launch of new UP Startup Policy 2020 with renewed vigor and commitment of the state government for promoting the entrepreneurship and innovation amongst youth.
The new startup Policy 2020 aims to be in Top 3 states in the state startup ranking in coming years. The policy also has a goal to establish 100 incubators in the state by 2025, minimum one in each district to create a robust infrastructure in the state for the startup culture to thrive.
New startup policy of UP addresses regional imbalance as well as gives thrust to upliftment of weaker sections of the society to bring them into a mainstream of business world by offering additional incentives. Additional incentives to the tune of 50% have been offered to startups based out of Purvanchal and Bundelkhand regions as well as to those where startup founders/co-founders is a woman, divyangjan or from transgender community.
