Published

The India Business Process Outsourcing Promotion Scheme (IBPS) launched by the Centre has facilitated expansion of several IT and BPO companies in tier-II and III cities across the country and Tamil Nadu has become the second State in new job generation, the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) said on Saturday. Under the IBPS Scheme, Andhra Pradesh is the highest in employment generation by creating 12,234 new jobs followed by Tamil Nadu at 9,401 while remaining was spread across Punjab, Odisha, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Bihar, an official press release said.

On 30th Foundation Day, STPI has planned to set up 12 more centres of excellence such as AIC STPINEXT, a CoE in Health Tech, Big Data & AI at Bengaluru, an IoT in Agriculture CoE at Akola, a CoE in Efficiency Augmentation at Bengaluru, FinTech CoE at Gandhinagar,  SmartAgri IoT CoE at Patna, a CoE in Emerging Tech at Bhubaneswar and CoE in Industry 4.0 Technology at Vizag and 5 CoE in each of remaining 5 NE capital cities viz. Gangtok (IT Applications in Healthlcare & AgriTech), Itanagar (GIS Applications including Drone Tech), Kohima (IT Applications in Graphic Design) , Aizawl (Gaming), Agartala (Data Analytics) in different parts of the country.

STPI has already launched 13 CoEs viz. FinBlue at Chennai, VARCoE at Bhubaneswar, NEURON at Mohali, IoT OpenLab at Bengaluru, MOTION at Pune, Electropreneur Park - New Delhi, Electropreneur Park- Bhubaneswar, APIARY at Gurugram, IMAGE at Hyderabad, OctaneNE (IoT in Agriculture at STPI- Guwahati, Animation at STPI Shillong and AR/VR at Imphal) and MedTech at Lucknow.

Speaking on the occasion Dr. Omkar Rai, Director General of STPI congratulated all the employees and accentuated, “Reimagination, recreation, restoring, and repositioning are in the DNA of STPI. We are constantly evolving apropos the dynamic needs of the Indian IT industry. We have also infused inclusiveness and competition in the work culture of the organisation. And all these have contributed to setting up 13 CoEs in various emerging technologies and subsequently planning for the launch of next 12 CoEs in a time-bound manner. These CoEs wil play a pivotal role in revving up R&D, innovation, IP creation, and product development, making India a product nation in times to come.”

Quantum computing can help prevent the onslaught of the next pandemic: Dr Omkar Rai

Read more At:

https://www.aninews.in/news/business/business/quantum-computing-can-help-prevent-the-onslaught-of-the-next-pandemic-dr-omkar-rai20210519140538/

The NextGen Startup Challenge was launched by Minister of Electronics and IT, Ravi Shankar Prasad, in August 2020. The objective of the initiative is to identify and support solutions for sectors and domains that have emerged as a priority in the post-pandemic world.
As many as 42 startups cutting across multiple domains including edtech, agritech, and fintech, have been selected in 'CHUNAUTI' screening contest and will now be eligible for benefits under the Next Generation Incubation Scheme, a top STPI official said on Tuesday.

Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) Director General, Omkar Rai, told PTI that these startups were selected through a rigorous process and screened through multiple rounds that included presentation of business plans, innovative ideas, feasibility of the concept before a panel of eminent experts, including key industry representatives.
Over 6,700 applications had been received, about 1,820 applications qualified and 111 applicants were selected for the presentation round.
In the final selection round which concluded recently, 42 startups were chosen in domains such as edtech, agritech and fintech solutions for masses (18 startups), infrastructure and remote monitoring (8), jobs and skilling, linguistic tools and technologies (4), medical healthcare, diagnostic, preventive and psychological care (5), and supply chain, logistics and transportation management (7).
The Next Generation Incubation Scheme (NGIS) is being executed by STPI, which is an organisation under the Ministry of Electronics and IT. NGIS aims to identify, in all, around 300 startups (over three years) working in identified areas, and provide them with a seed fund of up to Rs 25 lakh and other facilities.

The government has earmarked an amount of about Rs 95 crore over three years for the programme. More startups will be onboarded through the duration of the scheme.
"We have picked up 42 startups finally for onboarding under `CHUNAUTI', which is a screening process for selecting young entrepreneurs. The scheme is Next Generation Incubation Scheme, and CHUNAUTI was the shortlisting process," Rai said.
The scheme "enthused" young entrepreneurs in smaller towns, and is expected to foster an enabling environment of entrepreneurship in Tier II and III locations.

"The response was overwhelming, despite the backdrop of the pandemic. Given the response this time, we expect the next phase to be even more exciting," Rai pointed out.

The selected startups will be incubated by STPI and provided with stipends/seed funding and other facilities to set up their venture. The scheme has more than 125 mentors and 46 knowledge partners.

"These 42 startups are just the beginning, and on average we will host 100 startups every year...," Rai said.

The NextGen Startup Challenge was launched by the Minister of Electronics and IT, Ravi Shankar Prasad, in August 2020. The objective of the initiative is to identify and support solutions for sectors and domains that have emerged as a priority in the post-pandemic world.

NGIS is focused on 12 Tier II locations in the country -- Agartala, Bhilai, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Dehradun, Guwahati, Jaipur, Lucknow, Prayagraj, Mohali, Patna and Vijayawada.

Startups pan-India could apply and become NGIS beneficiary. Each NGIS location has a dedicated chief mentor along with a 'mentor pool' and knowledge partners.

The services offered by NGIS to its beneficiaries include physical infrastructure (including state-of-the-art incubation and dedicated Software Product Security Testing facility), mentoring, access to VCs for funding support, advisory services (such as HR, Legal, Accounting, IPR/Patenting) along with financial incentives like the seed funding of up to Rs 25 lakh.