KSUM recognised as world no 1 public business accelerator

The Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) has been recognised as the worlds top public business accelerator by UBI Global, the Stockholm-based intelligence company.

The honour for KSUM, the nodal agency for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities in the state, was announced at World Incubation Summit for the Best Programmes in Doha, Qatar, on Wednesday.

UBI Global is known for high-quality intelligence, assessment and mapping of business incubation.

Kerala Startup Mission demonstrates exceptional value for client startups, value for the local ecosystem and overall attractiveness as a programme. Following a rigorous data-driven approach, we assessed and benchmarked incubation programmes across the world," said director of research at UBI Global, Holger Meyer.

This years UBI Awards & Recognition Gala event, hosted by Qatar Development Bank at the Museum of Islamic Art, released the top lists of business incubators and accelerators as assessed in the World Benchmark Study 2019 -2020.

Commenting on the award, KSUM CEO Dr Saji Gopinath said this was an enormous recognition for them.

"It will further spur us to sustain the momentum in providing a congenial incubation eco system in Kerala and tapping into creative energies of the young minds," a press release quoted Gopinath as saying.

This year, 364 programmes located in 78 countries were selected after assessing and validating the data received from programmes seeking knowledge about them through the study.

One of the outcome of the benchmark study was identifying top incubator and accelerator programmes, which included categories like World Top University Business Incubators, World Top Public Business Incubators and World Top Private Business Incubators, the release said.

KSUM, which is responsible for policy framework and implementation of the startup schemes in Kerala, supports startup eco system by means of different components such as infrastructure, human capital development, funding, governance, public-private partnership and global collaborations.

It also promotes entrepreneurship at different levels