BHUBANESWAR: In a fresh boost to state’s innovation and startup ecosystem, the Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SOA) University has received grant-in-aid sanction from the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog to establish the Atal Incubation Centre - SOA Foundation (AIC-SOA Foundation). With this, SOA is set to become home to the third Atal Incubation Centre in the state. The university will get a grant-in-aid of Rs 10 crore with the first tranche of amount already sanctioned.
SOA vice-chancellor Prof Pradipta Kumar Nanda shared the journey from the application for grant stage to the successful sanction, and highlighted the guidance of SOA founder president Prof Manojranjan Nayak in steering the university towards becoming a national leader in innovation-driven education.
AIC SOA Foundation director Prof Manas Kumar Mallick emphasised that the incubation centre would work to foster entrepreneurship across Odisha and eastern India by supporting startups in HealthTech, AgriTech, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, CleanTech and Social Innovation sectors.