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The initiative supported by Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India Ministry of Electronics & IT, Government of India & Consulate General of India, San Francisco, USA will provide start-ups chance to go global

New Delhi, 7th September,2022: Keeping in view of the emergence of tech Start-ups as an important pillar of economic growth, Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) in collaboration with Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC) have jointly launched the Start-up Initiative, named “Building The Next Unicorn”. The initiative has been supported by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, Ministry of Electronics & IT, Government of India & Consulate General of India, San Francisco, USA.

Dubbed as a pioneering initiative encompassing beneficiary start-ups in establishing a cross-border footprint has become critical for Indian start-ups looking to expand globally. However, in order to grow effectively in cross-border markets, Indian start-ups must understand the economic landscape in which there are strong investment incentives and a thriving ecosystem. Innovations and new technologies are changing the world and the daily lives of each and every one of us. Many things that were mere visions of the future yesterday are now reality. Meanwhile, we are surrounded by technology at every moment and it’s important to be global.

“Realizing the wind of growth is blowing in the direction of creating a significant cross-border presence for promising Indian start-ups, the current initiative- Building The Next Unicorn will help in expanding their wings globally and also to raise funding for their expansion,” accentuated, Shri Arvind Kumar, DG, STPI.

This initiative will involve a three-tier approach as follows:

1.              State Level Conclaves – September / October 2022

At the first tier, state-level conclaves are being organized in association with state governments/ STPI / local Industry Bodies/ Academic Institutions and other stakeholders. Technology start-ups of the state will be invited to join the conclave that will allow them to interact with tech experts, industry veterans, and other stakeholders.  This will be followed by a “Pitching Session” which will help the participating start-ups to present themselves to the Jury Panel.

Start-ups joining the state conclaves will submit their business proposition/plans. From amongst the Start-ups joining the State Conclaves, a few (up to 25) will be invited to attend the National Conclave that will be held later this year.

2.              National Conclave – November 2022

The second tier of the initiative will be the National Conclave of Start-ups in November this year. All start-ups shortlisted at five to six state conclaves (up to 25 from each state conclave) will be invited to join the national event. In addition, a few promising start-ups, who may not have joined any of the State Conclaves but have the potential, will be invited to join the final selection process at National Conclave.  The final composition of the Start-up Mission to the USA will be finalized (around 30 to 40) out of the Start-ups selected from the State Conclaves.

Whereas the Start-ups finally selected for Mission to the USA will be provided travel assistance plus their complete engagements/meetings during the visit to the USA.

3.              Mission to the USA – January 2023

The delegation of selected Tech Start-ups shall visit the United States with a pre-fixed agenda with a visit to a leading Technology Event and meetings with global start-ups in the USA to understand market dynamics, marketing strategies, and potential from the export market perspective.  While in the USA, visiting Indian Start-ups will also get a chance to meet some High Net-worth Individuals (HNIs), Investors, and Venture Capitalists (VCs) who have shown interest to be a part of Indian Start-ups Success Story by investing in promising Indian Start-ups.

First start-up State Conclave has been organised at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh on 6th September 2022 for selecting potential startups for National Conclave.

The details are available at  https://www.nextunicorn.in/state-conclave-form/

Press Release
New Delhi
9th September 2022

10 successful teams get Smart Farm Grant Challenge (SFGC) - Grant

Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) distributed Rs. 5 Lakhs each to 10 shortlisted Teams under the Smart Farm Grant Challenge Programme. The grant distribution and the award ceremony were held at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, New Delhi, where Sh. Alkesh Kumar Sharma (Secretary, MeitY) handed over the cheques to the winning teams. The award ceremony was attended by Sh. Arvind Kumar (DG, STPI), Dr Saurabh Srivastava (Chairman Emeritus TiE Delhi-NCR and former Chairman NASSCOM), Sh. Roshan Lal Tamak (Executive Director, DCM Sriram) and senior officials from the Ministry and STPI.

The 10 shortlisted teams were A2P Energy Solution Private Limited, AgAutomate Private Limited, Aigret Innovations India Pvt. Ltd, ARMS 4 AI Pvt. Ltd, BharatRohan Airborne Innovations Private Limited, Plaksha University, G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Innosapien Agro Technologies Pvt Ltd, Satyukt Analytics Pvt Ltd and TFBOT PRIVATE LIMITED.

“Last-mile innovations focused on smallholder farmers are key for India's Agri & allied ecosystem and Agri #startups should develop their products keeping smallholder farmers in mind,” said Sh. Alkesh Kumar Sharma, Secretary, MeitY. “Agriculture is one of the key economic sectors of the country & #innovation through ICT enablement for this sector will help in achieving the target of $5 trillion economy by 2025,” mentioned Sh. Arvind Kumar, DG, STPI on the occasion. “Increasing productivity of Agriculture is a critical requirement of our farmers. I am delighted that MeitY has come up with the SFGC which focuses on their problem statement and invite Start-ups to find solution in an innovative way and financially support them,” accentuated Dr Saurabh Srivastava, Chairman, Emeritus, TiE Delhi-NCR (former Chairman NASSCOM). “Optimum time of Sugarcane Harvest can be predicted using technologies like AI & ML etc,” said Sh. Roshan Lal Tamak, Executive Director & CEO, DCM Shriram.

The Smart Farm Grant Challenge (SFGC) programme was launched on 9th May 2022 by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) with grant-in-aid of Rs. 2.54 Cr. STPI is the designated implementation agency with Neuron CoE at Mohali as the anchor CoE. The challenge programme was launched to identify path-breaking solutions from startups, Innovators, Entrepreneurs etc. to address the problem statements identified for sugarcane harvest. Sugarcane is an important commodity for human consumption as well as trade. Information and communication technology in agriculture (ICT in agriculture) has the potential to significantly impact the agriculture sector by utilizing ICT tools.

The programme received an overwhelming response and received a total of 474 applications. 108 applications found suitable were further screened and 25 selected were pitched before the Jury committee of members from Industry, Academia, Domain experts and stakeholders. The Jury’s recommendation of the 10 best proposals that have shown innovation and technological acumen to predict the optimum time of sugarcane harvest in a given plot area with reasonable accuracy are being provided financial support of INR 5 Lakhs each to develop a working prototype of the proposed solution within three months duration.

These 10 teams will now have to develop a working prototype of the proposed solution within three months and compete again to enter the next critical phases of the Smart-farm Grant Challenge. As part of the next phases, they will demonstrate the prototype, get selected for Stage-2, receive Rs. 20 lakh support, develop final product and compete again for the grand award of Rs 50 lakh along-with support of INR 10 lakhs per year for next 2 years towards Operations & Maintenance. Teams having innovative approaches, solutions which are reliable having accuracy in percentage, correlation with the real time data etc. and can cater to scalability, usability, ease of deployment & roll-out, have a great chance to progress further.

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RSVP

New Delhi, Sep 10, 2022: Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) distributed Rs. 5 Lakhs each to 10 shortlisted Teams under the Smart Farm Grant Challenge Programme. The grant distribution and the award ceremony were held at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, New Delhi, where Sh. Alkesh Kumar Sharma (Secretary, MeitY) handed over the cheques to the winning teams. The award ceremony was attended by Sh. Arvind Kumar (DG, STPI), Dr Saurabh Srivastava (Chairman Emeritus TiE Delhi-NCR and former Chairman NASSCOM), Sh. Roshan Lal Tamak (Executive Director, DCM Sriram) and senior officials from the Ministry and STPI.

The 10 shortlisted teams were A2P Energy Solution Private Limited, Ag Automate Private Limited, Aigret Innovations India Pvt. Ltd, ARMS  4 AI Pvt. Ltd, Bharat Rohan Airborne Innovations Private Limited, Plaksha University, G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Innosapien Agro Technologies Pvt Ltd, Satyukt Analytics Pvt Ltd and TFBOT PRIVATE LIMITED.

“Last-mile innovations focused on smallholder farmers are key for India’s Agri & allied ecosystem and Agri #startups should develop their products keeping smallholder farmers in mind,” said Sh. Alkesh Kumar Sharma, Secretary, MeitY.

“Agriculture is one of the key economic sectors of the country & #innovation through ICT enablement for this sector will help in achieving the target of $5 trillion economy by 2025,”mentioned Sh. Arvind Kumar, DG, STPI on the occasion.

“Increasing productivity of Agriculture is a critical requirement of our farmers. Iam delighted that MeitY has come up with the SFGC which focusses on their problem statement and invite Start-ups to find solution in an innovative way and financially support them,” accentuated Dr Saurabh Srivastava, Chairman, Emeritus, TiE Delhi-NCR (former Chairman NASSCOM).

“Optimum time of Sugarcane Harvest can be predicted using technologies like AI & ML etc,” said Sh. Roshan Lal Tamak, Executive Director &CEO, DCM Shriram.

The Smart Farm Grant Challenge (SFGC) programme was launched on 9th May 2022 by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) with grant-in-aid of Rs. 2.54 Cr. STPI is the designated implementation agency with Neuron CoE at Mohali as the anchor CoE. The challenge programme was launched to identify path-breaking solutions from startups, Innovators, Entrepreneurs etc. to address the problem statements identified for sugarcane harvest. Sugarcane is an important commodity for human consumption as well as trade. Information and communication technology in agriculture (ICT in agriculture) has the potential to significantly impact the agriculture sector by utilizing ICT tools.

The programme received an overwhelming response and received a total of 474 applications.  108 applications found suitable were further screened and 25 selected were pitched before the Jury committee of members from Industry, Academia, Domain experts and stakeholders.

The Jury’s recommendation of the 10 best proposals that have shown innovation and technological acumen to predict the optimum time of sugarcane harvest in a given plot area with reasonable accuracy are being provided financial support of INR 5 Lakhs each to develop a working prototype of the proposed solution within three months duration

These 10 teams will now have to develop a working prototype of the proposed solution within three months and compete again to enter the next critical phases of the Smart-farm Grant Challenge. As part of the next phases, they will demonstrate the prototype, get selected for Stage-2, receive Rs. 20 lakh support, develop the final product and compete again for the grand award of Rs 50 lakh along-with support of INR 10 lakhs per year for next 2 years towards Operations & Maintenance. Teams having innovative approaches, solutions which are reliable, having accuracy in percentage, correlation with the real time data etc. and can cater to scalability, usability, ease of deployment & roll-out, have a great chance to progress further.RR