Reiterating the government’s commitment to encourage innovative ideas by youngsters, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Monday said they would allot ₹100 crore to create a separate fund to support out-of-the box ideas by aspiring entrepreneurs.
Mr. Naidu was speaking at the awards presentation to mark the conclusion of three-day Indian Innovators’ Association (IIA) International Innovation Fair. The fair saw participation by 30 foreign countries and display of about 300 innovations by Indian and overseas participants.
The Chief Minister and National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) Chairman and Managing Director H. Purushottam signed MoU to encourage startups through AP Innovation Society (APIS). The fair was organised by IIA in collaboration with APIS and International Federation of Inverters’ Associations (IFIA).
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“Technology and Internet of Things are a deadly combination. Being a tech-savvy government, we want to encourage our youth in all possible manners to become entrepreneurs,” he said pointing out that many with the highest per capita income in Silicon Valley and most parts of the United States hailed from Andhra Pradesh.
The Chief Minister said besides creating a comprehensive ecosystem, they were also firm on hand-holding budding entrepreneurs to make their startups into commercial ventures by offering them mentoring, patenting and financial support.
On his request, IIA president A.S. Rao agreed to host its annual convention regularly in A.P. Mr. Naidu, who visited various stalls at the fair, said he was mesmerised by the ideas and innovations showcased by youngsters.
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‘On the growth path’
He said as against a growth rate of 5.7% in the country, AP could achieve a growth rate of 11.72% in the first quarter. Due to pro-active policies and governance on real-time basis, they were expecting much higher growth rate in future making AP among the top three States by 2022, best State by 2029 and one of the best destinations in the world for investments by 2050.
Mr. Naidu was moved when one of the participants — Manasa— a visually challenged school student from Hyderabad, declared that her aim was to develop easy learning method for visually challenged to take up engineering courses. B. Sowmya from Kurnool said she was overwhelmed with her experience at the fair.
IFIA president Alireza Rastegar and Michiko Enomoto, head, United Nations ESCAP-Asia Pacific Centre for Technology Transfer (APCTT), earlier spoke to Mr. Naidu.
Deputy Chief Minister N. Chinarajappa, IT Minister N. Lokesh, HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao, MPs K. Haribabu and M. Srinivasa Rao, and others were present.