BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Government has envisaged to establish innovation park in the State as one-stop-destination for start-ups. The CSR funds of State PSUs will be channelised and utilised for the development of the infrastructure of the park.
The start-up/innovation park will have necessary facilities and support infrastructure including common testing labs, design studios and tool rooms, besides facilitating community events and promotional support for incubators and start-ups.
The Government has framed the new Start-up Policy which is expected to act as a catalyst in the economic growth of the State by creating models for scalability and replicability resulting in large-scale employment opportunities.
The State Government plans to promote at least 1,000 start-ups in five years and emerge amongst the top three start-up hubs in the country by 2020 through strategic partnership, conducive ecosystem, investment and policy interventions.
As per the Policy, sector-specific incubators will be encouraged in areas like IT/ITEs, ESDM, healthcare and sanitation, agriculture business and food processing, hi-tech farming, tourism, textiles and garments, chemical and petrochemicals, downstream and ancillary. These incubators will be set up by the departments concerned in partnership with private sectors. The Government has also decided to undertake some academic interventions in collaboration with industry associations. At least five-year-old universities will be advised to introduce courses in start-up education and entrepreneurship development. Inputs in entrepreneurship and innovation will be introduced as part of the State school syllabus to give students an introduction to the subject and help develop their aptitude. The universities will be supported to train the faculty for promotion of innovation and entrepreneurship as per the existing policy and guidelines in Higher Education Department.
A start-up capital infrastructure fund of Rs 25 crore will be sourced through budgetary provision of MSME Department for development of infrastructure.
While Rs 10,000 per month will be provided to the start-up for a period of one year only if it has got the funding approved, reimbursement of Rs one lakh per year for three years would be provided to institutions for providing free Internet, electricity and mentoring services.
Marketing and publicity assistance up to Rs five lakh will be reimbursed for introduction of innovated products in the market. VAT/CST paid in Odisha by start-up companies will be reimbursed as per the Industrial Policy 2015 besides the cost of filing and prosecution of patent application.
The Government will set up a start-up council in the State to foster innovation. The council will be responsible to drive innovation, advise prospective start-ups and guide the innovation eco-system. The council, based on the requirement, will also form sub-committees to work in specific areas.