Quality incubators key to nurturing innovation

Startup culture in India is a mix of good and bad eggs: senior GoI official

Quality incubators are key to nurturing innovation and hence emphasis should be on increasing their numbers while strengthening the startup culture in the country through other policy initiatives, speakers stressed at the Public Policy Dialogues in ISB campus here on Thursday.

Speaking at the plenary session on day two of the event, Director, Strategic Alliance Division in the Office of Principal Scientific Advisor to the Centre Sapna Poti said “the startup culture in India is a mix of good and bad eggs. On one hand, a number of startups are generating massive employment opportunities, on the other there are some fly-by-night startups which disappear after initial rounds of funding. There is still a greater need to have quality incubators in the country to mentor startups for innovation”.

India Electronics and Semiconductor Association vice president Col. Anurag Awasthi, who moderated the session on ‘Policy and Innovation’ highlighted the importance of innovation and policies in strengthening the startup culture in the country, ISB said in a release.

Joint Secretary to the Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department Vijaya Lakshmi Nadendla, who spoke on the need for innovation in agriculture, said from high-quality seeds to sowing technologies, irrigation, harvesting, storage and post-harvesting, technology is the catalyst in completing the value chain in agriculture”. Various challenges faced for the agriculture industry, including depleting workforce and low productivity can be solved using advancements in technology and innovative processes. Gujarat Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Network (GIAN) CEO Anamika Dey called upon policymakers and corporates to take measures for addressing linguistic barriers that come in the way of innovators at the grassroots level and the need to create awareness of funding ecosystem. Bharti Institute of Public Policy, ISB is organising the three-day event.