100 business agreements signed at Tirupati Tech Expo

The number of agreements has almost been doubled this time around owing to the increase in participation of innovators and tech startups

About 100 domestic and international business agreements were signed at the DST-Lockheed Martin India Innovation Growth Programme(IIGP)'s Tirupati Technology Expo in Tirupati city on Monday.

The number of agreements, which are primarily aimed at taking the innovative technology ideas to the market, has almost been doubled this time around owing to the increase in participation of innovators and tech startups, according to the organisers.

IIGP was launched in March 2007 to enable Indian innovators and startups to get connected to industry partners in India and across the world. Earlier this year 12 innovators were taken to Silicon Valley to provide an exposure to the global innovation ecosystem and get on an accelerated commercialisation path.

Through a wide outreach campaign spreading over 100 cities across India, the programme has received and evaluated over 7,000 applications so far. Of these, over 400 innovators have been provided in-depth technology commercialisation training and business development support to commercialise and scale their ventures. According to a survey done by Ernst and Young, the participating companies have generated economic wealth of over $ 800 million.

Of these 400 innovators, 25 are from Hyderabad while several of the supported entrepreneurs were also being incubated at XLr8 Andhra Pradesh, a partnership programme of AP government, FICCI and University of Texas.