Karnataka reboots old programme to energise its start-up ecosystem
The Congress led Karnataka government that hit the ground running with its election promise implementation from day one, has begun reviving its old initiatives that perhaps went into oblivion after it lost power.
One such initiative is Propel, that was originally mooted by IT minister Priyank Kharge in his previous stint in the Congress government six years ago, is being revived as an online platform to hep start-ups under the government’s start-up policy.
The principal aim and objective of the programme Propel is to help fast-track the adoption of solutions developed by start-ups for both government and private sector. IT minister Kharge says that for starters the government will spend Rs 5 crore for building this platform that aims to bring representatives from the industry, policy makers, and interested tech stakeholders.
Incidentally, hundreds of start-ups have received early stage funding from government under its Elevate program of the start-up policy. This initiative was started by Kharge in his previous stint as the minister for IT. Now, its new avatar, Propel, will take the Elevate programme further in a bid to accelerate the process of adoption of solutions that were developed by the Elevate programme.
Propel will help start-ups pitch directly to large technology MNCs and other global entities and it will provide a synergetic environment for the start-ups to work with tech multinationals that can open up new funding options for them. “The goal is to increase mutually beneficial partnerships where MNCs gain access to the disruptive technologies, while start-ups benefit from the resources, expertise and market reach of the MNCs,” the minister said.
The previous Elevate programme was envisaged as a portal to give a push to the start-up culture by bringing together professionals belonging to funding, mentors, ideas assessment experts on a single platform and give an overall boost to the start-up ecosystem in Bengaluru.
Already the IT bigwigs from the private sector back the government initiative that is expected to help Karnataka to continue to enjoy the status as a global innovation centre.
