Country's second 'electropreneur' park to start operations by May

Delhi University houses first electropreneur park. It has been operational for over two years, incubating 22 companies with a combined market valuation of Rs 150 crore

The Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) hopes to operationalise the country’s second electropreneur park in Bhubaneswar by May this year. The park will incubate start-ups in the ESDM (Electronic System Design and Manufacturing) space.

STPI had recently signed a pact with industry body, India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA), and International Institute of Information Technology, Bhubaneswar for setting up the ESDM incubator.

Delhi University houses the country's first electropreneur park. It has been operational for more than two years, successfully incubating 22 companies with a combined market valuation of Rs 150 crore.

The new incubation centre will be set up within the premises of STPI's new facility in Bhubaneswar. It aims at achieving the objectives of the ESDM vision outlined in the National Policy on Electronics and other policies.

“We expect that the incubation centre will be operational (in four months) by May this year. Plans are afoot to organise roadshows at key locations including Bhubaneswar for selecting the start-ups”, said a senior STPI official.

The park will incubate about 40 start-ups in the ESDM space and will see an investment of Rs 22 crore -- the cost equally apportioned between the state and Centre. STPI is the nodal agency for implementing the project. It will accord thrust on start-ups in verticals like energy, education and industrial automation and process control.

To promote the successful start-ups or incubatees of the proposed ESDM incubation centre, it is envisaged to offer preferential allotment in Electronic Manufacturing Cluster on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.

The Odisha government has taken a host of measures, including preparation of road map for the hardware industry and characterization lab for chip testing, to attract investments in the ESDM sector.

The ESDM sector, as per a strategic roadmap, is poised to generate cumulative revenue of Rs 18,800 crore in Odisha by 2024. The report said, investments of Rs 7,340 crore need to be pumped into the sector in three phases to realise the projected revenue and employment generation for around 60,000 people.

Khurda, Rayagada, Sundergarh, Balasore and Ganjam districts are identified as the potential areas for setting up of ESDM projects. In addition, the Information and Communication Technology Policy-2014, promises sops for the promotion of ESDM units.