Kerala’s IT Special Secretary, Sreeram Sambasiva Rao, announced today that the state government is in the final stages of developing a comprehensive policy specifically designed for social enterprises.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of the Kerala Innovation Festival, organised by the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), he also revealed that schoolchildren will soon get training in deeptech technology as part of their curriculum.
He said a decentralised innovation ecosystem is currently being developed in Kerala, and the KIF showcased the talent of Kerala’s youth.
Additionally, a special policy will be introduced to support social enterprises and promote social entrepreneurship. Kerala boasts one of India’s best startup ecosystems.
The number of IEDC and LEAP centres will also be increased, and a Freedom Square will be established for presenting innovative ideas.
Film star Nivin Pauly, the chief guest at the closing ceremony, announced plans for an incubation centre for startups in collaboration with the KSUM. He stated that both academic studies and creative ideas should be encouraged among students.
Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of Infosys, who attended the event, stated that the KSUM should now concentrate on the number of unicorn startups it can foster each year.
“KSUM has already established an effective ecosystem for startups. The initial version of the Mission was the country’s first public-private incubator,” said Shri Gopalakrishnan.
KSUM CEO Anoop Ambika, who welcomed the gathering at the event, recalled that Sri Gopalakrishnan contributed the first seed investment of Rs 2 crore to the incubator, the predecessor of the Startup Mission.“The collaboration of young stars such as Nivin Pauly serves as an inspiration for our state’s startup entrepreneurs,” he said.NASSCOM and KSUM signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at helping deeptech startups access the global market and attract more investment.
The Memorandum of Understanding was exchanged between Shri Ambika, NASSCOM Deeptech Director Shreya Sharma, and Nehal Pandya, in Shri Rao’s presence.
Nivin Pauly, along with his wife Rina Joy, who is also the director of their venture, Pauly Jr, presented prizes to the winners. CUSAT’s Team APX secured first place, carrying a cash prize of Rs. 1 lakh in the HackGenAI Hackathon organised by Super Brain AI and Pauly Jr.
The second place, carrying a cash prize of Rs. 50,000, went to the MacBee Innovation Lab team.
Team Peaky Blinders from Anna University, Chennai, took third place, and Team Fible from Adi Shankara College of Engineering received a special award for having a majority of women members.
