Seven companies were awarded IKP Knowledge Park excellence awards here on Sunday. While Dupont knowledge centre, US Pharmacopeia and ITW were given innovation award, Daicel and Coromandel won the growth award, ATGC and LAXAI won aspirer award at International Knowledge Millennium Conference.
IKP knowledge park is a science park and incubator in the city.
The theme of the conference was Startup to Scaleup.
“The awards are set up with the mission to create a world-class ecosystem for fostering leading-edge innovation in India,” said Deepanwita Chattopadhyay, chairman and CEO, IKP Knowledge Park. IKP had come a long way from being a biotech park to a knowledge park, the CEO added.
Engineering was a part of solutions that start-ups provide and the focus of the park had moved to this field, Mr. Chattopadhyay added. Delivering the keynote address in the conference, Dr. Renu Swarup, managing director of Birac, said that policies to scale up were very critical for innovation. “In recent times, the progress of engagement between Centre and State Governments is auguring well for the development of start-ups,” she added.
In his plenary address, N. Vaghul, former chairman of ICICI Bank & IKP Knowledge Park, asked innovators to focus on new ideas.
“Idea is more important than individual in the startup ecosystem,” Mr. Vaghul said. Bala S Manian, Serial Entrepreneur, Bay Area, USA, told innovators to learn to move up the value chain while innovation was happening. “Not doing so will make the individual or the company redundant,” he added.
IKP Knowledge Park was established to foster leading-edge innovation in the country. IKP promotes the advancement of technology-based innovators, entrepreneurs and small and large companies through customized space, shared equipment, incubation, mentorship, and funding. IKP has so far supported over 220 companies from seven countries out of which 80 percent are startups.
