CHENNAI: The G20 digital innovation alliance (GIA) has invited applications from startups for Rs 10 lakh grant and mentorship. Under the outreach programme, six startups from six different sectors - edtech, health tech, agritech, fintech, circular economy and secured digital infra - will be selected from each G20 country and nine invited nations, totalling 174 startups.
“They would get Rs 10 lakh grant, mentorship by a unicorn founder, investment pitching and international networking collaborations and a three-month acceleration programme,” MeitY Startup Hub CEO Jeet Vijay told TNIE on the sidelines of an outreach programme for GIA was held at BS Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Technology here on Saturday. The deadline for applying to GIA is April 30. A mega summit will be held in Bengaluru from May 16 to 19.
GIA was launched by the Government of India under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to accelerate startups and facilitate cross-border market access and collaboration programmes. The outreach programme was organized by Crescent Innovation and Incubation Council.
Speaking at the event, Mano Thangaraj, minister for information technology, said the state government was working towards creating 25 lakh skilled youth in the IT sector by 2030. He said the state government is promoting digitalization and automation and that a skilled workforce is required in emerging and deep technologies to achieve the US $1 trillion economy goal. “10% of that is estimated to come from the IT sector,” he said.
Parvez Alam, CEO and director of Crescent Innovation and Incubation Council, said more than 200 startups were incubated at the centre since its inception and has a cumulative value of Rs 800 crore.