The MSME Department has expanded its program through Startup Odisha to promote entrepreneurship and innovation in the state. Currently, there are more than 2,800 certified startups in the state. The department has taken up the program to add more startups. Under this, Startup Odisha aims to promote 2,000 startups in the next 2 years.
According to the information, the scope of incubation centers will be further expanded to transform startup ideas into real and commercial institutions through proper guidance. Currently, about 35 such incubation centers are working in collaboration with educational institutions and industry. This will be increased to 50 by the end of this year. This will provide better incubation and technology support to startups.
Similarly, partnerships are being strengthened to provide other ancillary facilities so that ideas can be transformed into commercial enterprises at a faster and more growth rate. On the other hand, there is an effort to spread the startup culture not only in big cities but also in rural areas. In this regard, the state government is supporting new startup ideas to grow through hackathons across the state. Efforts are also being made to ensure that more startup enterprises come from tribal-dominated districts. Startups led by tribal youth will be provided with additional facilities and advice.
Similarly, a campaign has been started to identify 40 new innovative startups by December this year through outreach in all district headquarters. A unified portal will be launched soon to provide all kinds of facilities to startups at one place. It is expected that this will play a major role in promoting startups in the state. This proposal has received the green signal from the government.
Smriti Ranjan Pradhan, CEO of Startup Odisha, said that Odisha is at the forefront in promoting startups. Work is currently underway to expand this trend further. Innovative startups will be promoted in collaboration with both academia and industry. It is worth mentioning that there are 13 nodal agencies, 5 lakh sq ft of incubation space and 75 e-cells for startup promotion. Over 112 startups are being guided in the incubator centers. While 140 startups have received seed funding, 41 startups have received investment.
