Telangana’s Information Technology and Panchayat Raj Minister K.T. Rama Rao on Friday set in motion the development of the country’s largest start-up incubation centre ‘T Hub’ at the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Gachibowli.
The 60,000 square feet, five-floor building is part of the first phase of the government’s ‘T Hub’ initiative, and is expected to become operational by June this year. When fully functional, it can host 400 start-ups and is expected to generate employment for 3,000 people by the end of 2017. Mr. Rama Rao laid the foundation stone for the building, which was conceptualised by W Design Studio.
Speaking about ‘T Hub’, the Minister said it would nurture entrepreneurs who in today’s world are the biggest employment generators. “T Hub will also serve as an incubator of incubators. Our target is also to have at least 10 incubators by the end of 2017,” he said.
He further described its working through three facilities. An idea would find assistance in the ‘launch-pad’ component of ‘T Hub’ while those which have been prototyped will be aided by the ‘accelerator’. Finally, start-ups which have the product in hand, can seek assistance with marketing through the ‘propeller’ facility. This will allow entrepreneurs in any stage of an idea’s lifecycle to avail its facilities.
Venture fund
Mr. Rama Rao also talked about plans to set up a venture fund that would get contributions both from the government and private sector. The second phase of ‘T Hub’ will be set up in Raidurgam where three lakh square feet of space will be available by 2018, the Minister said. He told mediapersons that major global brands like Wipro, Google, Capgemini and Amazon have expansion plans in the city.
Academic institutions partnering ‘T Hub’ include Indian School of Business (ISB), IIIT Hyderabad and NALSAR. These institutions will assist start-ups with management, technology and legal aspects of setting up and running a venture.
‘T Hub’ will be administered by a board of directors which will include representatives from each of the partnering academic institutions and noted entrepreneurs from the city.
