Ahmedabad: Gujarat government has come up with India’s first student startup and innovation policy, which aims to provide Rs 200 crore in the form of grants to ideas developed by them. The policy aims to support over 1,000 innovation per year and create pre-incubation support in all universities of the state.

According to the government statement, the policy will support student-led startups and innovations as well as create an Innovation and Pre-incubation Ecosystem Support (IPIES) across all universities of the state.

The Student Startup and Innovation Policy developed under the aegis of Education Department was announced by the Chief Minister of Gujarat Vijaybhai Rupani. Earlier in 2015, Gujarat came out with startup-assistant scheme, a part of Gujarat Industrial Policy, and in 2016 the state came up with its Information Technology Startup Policy.

Under the pre-incubation support, it would help convert ideas of students from proof of concept (PoC) upto minimum viable proto-type (MVP), besides providing support for patent filing.

Under the policy, Gujarat government would provide Rs 200 crore as State Innovation Fund during the next five years, of which Rs 100 crore will be allocated by the state government and the remaining amount will be created by internal sources, like university funds and CSR funds.

“The policy’s target is to create a conducive environment enabling 1% of our graduates to become job creators, and the Student Innovation Fund would help develop an innovation and pre-incubation ecosystem across the state,” said Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, Minister of Education, Gujarat government.

Source: Economic Times