National Knowledge Workshop 2019 on Support to Startup Ecosystems
Author: Kritika Singh
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) conducted the first ever States’ Startup Ranking Exercise in 2018 with the key objective to encourage States and Union Territories to take proactive steps towards strengthening the Startup Ecosystems within their jurisdiction. The methodology was aimed at creating a healthy competition among States and UTs to further learn, share and adopt good practices. The exercise lead to multiple States forming Startup Policies and working with the Startup India team to take up initiatives like Startup events, round tables with investors and establishing relevant incubator connects.
To further encourage States and UTs enabling their Startup Ecosystems, DPIIT drafted the proposed methodology for the States' Startup Ranking Exercise in 2019, and conducted a two-day workshop – ‘National Knowledge Workshop 2019 on Support to Startup Ecosystems’ – on 28th and 29th of January in Bengaluru to discuss the proposed ranking framework and take feedback from the States and UTs.
All the proposed pillars of the ranking framework, action points and weight for beneficiaries’ feedback were discussed in detail at the workshop. The six pillars of the framework are Institutional Support, Incubation Support, Seed Funding Support, Angel and Venture Funding Support, Easing Public Procurement, and Awareness and Outreach. These pillars include action points like Startup Policy, Mentor Network, IP Support, Women Entrepreneurship, Setting-up and Upgradation of Incubators, Acceleration Program, Seed Funding Guidelines, and Support from Various Departments.
More than 70 Government officials from 25 States & UTs participated in the workshop, which began with an inaugural address by Mr. Atul Chaturvedi, Additional Secretary, DPIIT, and then Mr. Gaurav Gupta, Principal Secretary, Department of IT, BT and S&T, Government of Karnataka, shared how they have enabled the Startup Ecosystem in the State – having Bengaluru as the world’s second fastest growing Startup Ecosystem – with Startup Policy, TBIs, Venture Funds, Idea2PoC Grant Scheme and Grand Challenges among others. Several Startups like Bellatrix Aerospace and StanceBeam spoke on the government showing trust in them before anyone else, which made all the difference.
States and UTs also spoke on their experience and learnings from the States’ Startup Ranking Exercise in 2018. Mr. Ameya Abhyankar, Secretary, IT Department, Government of Goa, shared how they benefited from the pairing of States as ‘Mentor and Mentee’ for the ranking exercise in 2018. He spoke on the excellent support provided to them by their Mentor State, Telangana, especially the IT Department and the team at T-Hub. Mr. Indu Shekhar Sharma, Secretary, Government of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, spoke on their recently launched Startup Policy and the help they received from Startup India team and continue to look forward to in future.
Further, field visits to five incubators at IIIT Bangalore, C-CAMP, SID and Nanotech TBI at IISC Bangalore, and Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre, were made for better understanding of best practices, culminating with a visit to K-Tech Innovation Hub at NASSCOM, along with presentations by funded Startups, fund managers, and ecosystem partners.
The National Knowledge Workshop 2019 was an extremely enriching and educating experience for all the participants, and the feedback will be considered in finalising the framework for States’ Startup Ranking 2019.
