Vizag to be on Global start-up map by Dec. 2016

Hyderabad, June 15 (INN): To infuse a culture of creative thinking and bring a Sunrise Civilisation to Andhra Pradesh in line with Chief Minister's Vision 2050, Kochi Start-up chairman Sanjay Vijaya Kumar spoke about his plans to make Vizag a start-up hub.

Sanjay Vijaya Kumar is also the man behind Vizag Start-up Village, on lines of Kochi. The start-up village in Vizag currently houses 107 start-ups.

Under phase I of Entrepreneurship & Innovation plan, the state government will expand the 17,500-sq.ft area of the Incubator Park to 50,000 sq.ft by December next year.

Within 18 months, Vijaya Kumar said that the aim of government is to put Vizag on global start-up map along with Silicon Valley, Tel Aviv, etc. For this, the Vizag Start-up Village is benchmarking itself against 8 key indicators of the Silicon Valley.

Briefing the action plan to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Vijaya Kumar said an overhaul of curriculum in schools, colleges and universities will be implemented from July 2015.

This revamping of curriculum will include creating culture of entrepreneurship among students. For colleges and universities- holding boot camps, hackathons and encouraging students to convert their projects into start-ups will be taken up.

"This not only infuses entrepreneurial spirit among students but also leads to direct skill development, eventually creating more jobs and entrepreneurs," Vijaya Kumar added.

The Chief Minister suggested that a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to mobilise resources to create required infrastructure. "Create a non-exclusive model and work out an action plan to be implemented from July 1," the Chief Minister explained.

In order to market and add value to products developed by local start-ups, the Chief Minister said that innovative products or utility programs of local entrepreneurs can be used by government or sold to companies to create value and commercialise them.

The Chief Minister added that the Fiber Grid project will give a huge fillip to this plan.

On the other hand, the government is also readying Rs. 100 crore Innovation Fund for start-ups.

The government is also working on a plan to check the feasibility of Signature Campuses for start-ups (on which Apple Inc. and Facebook Inc. are working on) rather than limit itself to Signature Buildings.

IT Advisor J. Satyanarayana and IT Secretary Sreedhar were present at the meeting.