Vibrant Gujarat Startup and Technology Summit Kicks Off

By IndraStra Global News Team

By IndraStra Global News Team

Image Attribute: The Exhibition Center, Gandhinagar, INDIA

On October 11, 2018, Vibrant Gujarat Startup and Technology Summit kicked off at The Exhibition Centre, Gandhinagar. The three-day long event co-organized by Industrial Extension Bureau (iNDEXTb), Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) and GESIA IT Association from  October 11-13, is a forerunner to the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, to be held in January 2019.

During the summit, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani announced that his government will grant industry status to the information technology sector to encourage start-ups in the state. With the grant of industry status, the IT sector would be eligible for state benefits that are extended to the manufacturing sector. The state government has also announced a grand challenge for startups, with a total prize money of  ₹ 3 crores (approx. US$ 407,000).

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 President of NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Services Companies), Debjani Ghosh asked Gujarat to leverage its entrepreneurship strength than seek advice from the world for setting up start-up ecosystems.

"Being someone from outside, it is very surprising for me to come to Gujarat and hear people talk about building start-up ecosystem. I have always been taught from childhood that Gujarat was home of entrepreneurship; Gujarat was where original entrepreneurship was born; entrepreneurship runs in DNA of Gujarat. So you should be teaching the world, how to set up their ecosystems, rather than the world telling you how to set it up," said Ghosh in her opening remarks at the event

Gujarat chief secretary J.N. Singh who spoke later at the event said, "If we look at where the start-ups are concentrated, about 80 percent of them are in Bangalore, Delhi NCR, and Mumbai, while Chennai and Hyderabad also have also got a good base. Among the Tier-II cities, Pune, Jaipur, Indore, Kochi, and our own Ahmedabad are some of those cities where promising start-ups are emerging which account for rest of 20 percent. Ahmedabad is one of the new places where start-ups are coming up." He also spoke about how the state government has recognized 33 nodal institutions for facilitating start-ups and have also set up a start-up cell under the industries and mines department which has assisted about 184 start-ups to secure funding.

The Summit, in its second year, aims to attract the brightest entrepreneurial minds from across the nation to ideate, innovate and help them shape their ideas for the development of the state and the nation. The Government of Gujarat, with its policies and schemes, accelerators and incubators, is doing all it can to support the dreams of aspiring entrepreneurs and give them wings of reality.

With reporting by Business Standard, The Indian Express, and YourStory.com