Kerala govt to announce new startup and innovation policy

State will also host meeting of University Vice-Chancellors to finalise scheme to support student entrepreneurs

The Kerala government will soon announce a new start-up and innovation policy to promote entrepreneurship, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said today while inaugurating the first phase of the Technology Innovation Zone (TIZ), an ambitious project under the Technopark-Technology Business Incubator (TBI), at the Kinfra Hi-Tech Park in Kalamassery.

He said that the draft of the new policy is ready and the policy would be unveiled soon. The government will also chair a meeting of university vice-chancellors in the state to finalise a programme to provide support to student entrepreneurs, he said.

The newly inaugurated 10,000 sq ft work space at TIZ will be handed over to Startup Village for providing incubation support to around 40 start-ups.

“The objective of the Innovation Zone is to provide the maximum possible support to young entrepreneurs across a number of industry verticals, apart from telecom and IT. At least eight different sectors, like agriculture, electronics, food processing, tourism and so on, have been identified for providing incubation support,” he added.

V K Ebrahim Kunju, minister for public works, said that the government would look into the infrastructure needs of TIZ and finish work on ongoing road projects in the surrounding areas in a timely manner.

The TIZ project is spread across 13.2 acres at the Kinfra Park. Work on the remaining buildings is expected to be completed by 2017. Once fully operational, TIZ will have a total built-up area of  over 500,000 sq ft  and will have all the amenities of a futuristic business incubator including fab-labs (fabrication labs) and a data centre, apart from a convention centre, an amphitheatre, food courts and an exhibition lounge.