Bengaluru: The first meeting of the Karnataka Startup Council was held on Thursday under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The meeting was also attended by Ministers for Large and Medium Industries, IT and BT, Agriculture, Health and Family Welfare and Higher Education.
The Government of Karnataka launched India’s first ever multi sector Startup Policy in November 2015 and under this policy the Startup Council was setup as the apex body for the overall monitoring and evaluation of implementation of the policy. Besides senior government officers, the Council also has representation from academia and eminent members representing the industry and Startup ecosystem in sectors ranging from agriculture to aerospace.
During the discussion, the members appreciated the efforts of the State government to promote the Startups in the State through various initiatives of the Karnataka Startup Policy. The strategy of building institutional capacities for nurturing entrepreneurship in tier-2 city educational institutes through the New Age Incubation Network was well taken by the members. Also funding support at early stage and venture stage through the government funds like the Semi Conductor Venture Fund and Biotech Venture Fund were also much appreciated by the industry captains.
The council members emphasized the need for improving ease of doing business for startups, ensuring availability of skilled manpower, and opportunity for implementation of pilots through the government departments as well as facilitating procurement of innovative solutions and products by the government. Facilitation mechanism setup through Karnataka Startup Cell, as the one stop shop for startups for all information related to regulatory framework and policy incentives and other related advice, was also widely appreciated. Several other important suggestions were made by the members of the Council that would be considered for better implementation of the policy.
