THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government is all set to ink a MoU with Airbus BizLab India, a global aerospace accelerator which is part of Airbus, for establishing the Aerospace Innovation Centre in Thiruvananthapuram. The Innovation Centre will be the nodal body for planning and executing all the activities to help the startups focused on the aerospace and defence sectors.
The MoU will be signed on Saturday by Anand E Stanley, president and managing director, Airbus India and South Asia, and Saji Gopinath, CEO, Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), in the presence of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
‘’Airbus BizLab will also provide support and mentoring for startups in Kerala and conduct regular workshops and discussions with experts from aerospace and defence sectors,’’ said a statement. The France-headquartered company, which has set up facilities in Bengaluru, Toulouse, Hamburg and Madrid, will run training programmes to acquaint participants with aerospace technologies.
The company will also identify opportunities for Kerala to adapt aerospace technologies across sectors and bring all the relevant Airbus teams and startups to demonstrate technologies.
After successful demonstration, it will help the innovation centre to sign partnerships and deploy the technologies.
“It is a landmark agreement that will give a huge fillip to Kerala’s efforts to nurture innovations and startups in the aerospace and defence sectors. It will help the startups in the state to leverage the expertise of Airbus in transforming their innovative ideas into scalable businesses,” said Chief Secretary Tom Jose.