Gujarat to set up incubation centres

It's not just the elite management institutes that have started setting up incubation centres to encourage young entrepreneurs to follow their dreams.

The Gujarat government is set to follow suit by starting its own incubation centres across the state for the first time. The initiative will be undertaken jointly by the Department of Science and Technology and Software Technology Parks of India (STPI).

Under the initiative, incubation centres will be established in Surat, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar and Rajkot in the first phase.

"While incubation of business ideas is the objective of setting up these centres, we will also be involved in the funding aspect by bringing in venture capitalists at a later stage," said Raj Kumar, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Gujarat Government.

Business ideas of Rs 2-3crore would be funded under the initiative. GVFL could be a part of the project. The centres would be set up by 2010.

Under Edusat, the digital education programme of the state government, there is a plan to cover all schools, colleges and open universities.

An education package will be developed by subject matter experts and will be broadcast across these educational institutes. Also, over 14,000 colleges are set to be installed with broadband facility in the next 4-5 months.

Raj Kumar was speaking at the BPO summit 2008 organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) at Ahmedabad where KPMG unveiled a report on the potential for IT and ITeS services in Gujarat.

The report notes that Gujarat is being seen as an emerging destination for activities like CAD/CAM.