A Finnish University will provide entrepreneurial and technology knowhow to India’s first telecom incubator started in a village near Kochi.
The Aalto Centre for Entrepreneurship has tied up with Startup Village for technological collaboration and to provide it a cutting edge to its aspirations to churn out billion dollar start-ups from Indian campuses.
ACE, under the Aalto University, is known for incubating game-changing startups, while the Kochi-based Startup Village — the first incubator in the public-private partnership (PPP) mode in the country — harbours ambitions of grooming billion-dollar ventures from Indian campuses.
Startup Village, the Technology Business Incubator, is promoted by the Department of Science and Technology, Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram, and MobME Wireless.
Kris Gopalakrishnan, Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of Infosys, is the Chief Mentor for Startup Village.
The MoU signed between Aalto and Startup marks a milestone in Indo-Finnish efforts to strengthen bilateral relations in the field of technology, initiated by both the Governments with the formation of a joint working group and visit of ministerial delegations, said Sanjay Vijakumar, Chairman of the Governing Board of Startup Village.
He said the pact is expected to give a fillip to the joint drive for future innovations by harnessing Finland’s prowess in product technology and India’s frugal innovations.
Vijakumar inked the MoU with Tapio Siik, head of ACE, in the presence of a host of dignitaries who are part of a high-level delegation led by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) visiting Finland.
Equipped with 4G network, telecom labs, legal and intellectual property services, among others, Startup will provide incentives such as a three-year service tax holiday and funding opportunities for tech start-ups.
It aims to incubate 1,000 product startups over 10 years and start the search for a billion-dollar company from a college campus by the turn of this decade.
Startup Village will create an ecosystem and provide a platform for startups to create breakthrough technologies for the global telecom industry.
Startup Village will focus primarily on student startups from college campuses.