KOCHI: In a bid to create a startup culture in the state, students are given a lot of opportunities to start experimenting, said Saji Gopinath, CEO of Kerala Startup Mission. At the college level, entrepreneurship development programme has been started in 192 colleges, he said.“The state liberally provides support to great ideas. We have created large labs in association with reputed institutes like Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which has its largest network outside the US, in India.
The state government has been providing the required infrastructure to the start-ups,” said Gopinath. He was participating in a panel discussion held as part of Global Startup EcoSystem 2.0/ InQ SparQ-off, an innovation conclave organised by InQ Innovation, a first-of-its kind global innovation system here the other day.When a start-up comes out with a product, the government will boost them. It will also support social innovations.
As creation of startup culture is government’s duty, the state government has taken several steps in association with other stakeholders for promoting the same, the Startup Mission CEO said.
Varadarajan Krish of 100 Open Startups said the challenge for big companies was to innovate at cheaper cost. Start-ups can play a role in it. Big companies and institutions in turn can provide their domain experts to the products, he said.
Scott O Brien, founder, Humense Inc, said Augmented Reality (AR) was the most happening tech niche and opens up innumerable opportunities in communication, entertainment, healthcare, and every conceivable industry. InQ aims to facilitate AR technology experts to connect with industries, startup initiates as well as local development teams, consultants and educational institutions.
“Offering substantial employment opportunities, AR requires trained and skilled people and InQ can mediate to connect students with opportunities to intern at AR development organisations. Rapid developments in AR opens up employment opportunities for skilled AR experts, wearable computing equipment technologists, digital and interactive media professionals and students wanting to understand more or enter the fast-growing industry,” he said.
Vinod Subramaniam, serial entrepreneur and co-founder, InQ Innovations, reckoned scaling was the most important challenge faced by startups and entrepreneurs in India. As part of the innovation conclave, some of the early startups and companies in their early stages, including Fablecart, Dhaarana and Paschim Biospace from Kerala; GAR from Karnataka and Wave Design, SiA Planner and Humense from Australia were showcased.
Speakers and panelists included startup guru and serial entrepreneur Anil Chikkara, entrepreneur and startup enthusiast Lakshmi Narayanan, president and CEO of Aptus Enterprises and angel investor Ravi Chandran were present on the occasion.