In a bid to boost entrepreneurship in tier 2 and tier 3 towns in the state, Telangana State Innovation Cell will be launching ‘Startup India Telangana Yatra’ in the state from September 15 to October 5.
The Startup India Yatra is a platform that helps aspiring entrepreneurs in Tier 2 and 3 towns by giving them an opportunity get mentored and coached by the startup ecosystem.
"The yatra will happen in 12 districts between September 15 and October 5 and will spread awareness about the State Innovation Policy and the initiatives taken by the government," TSIC said in a statement.
Similar to T-Hub and T-Works, TSIC is an initiative by the Telangana government to help promote entrepreneurship in the state and make it a startup destination.
The start-up India Telangana Yatra will be launched by KT Rama Rao, Minister for ITE&C, on September 15. As part of the Yatra, there will be 12 boot camps conducted in 12 different districts of Telangana. These include Adilabad, Nirmal, Nizamabad, Khammam, Mahabubnagar, Karimnagar, Warangal, Medak, among others.
All the Boot Camps will have ideation workshops and idea pitching sessions to give students an exposure to what entrepreneurship is about. Aspiring Entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to pitch their ideas to a panel and the best ideas will get an opportunity to participate in a two-day acceleration program with a best incubator.
Finally, the ideas that get shortlisted will get a chance to pitch for offers by incubators and incentives by the State Government.
Apart from the boot camps, a Startup India Yatra van will travel to various cities of Telangana to spread awareness about Startup India and Telangana’s Startup Policy. The van will travel to Adilabad, Nizamabad, Nirmal, Jagtial, Peddapalle, Karimnagar, Warangal Urban, Warangal Rural, Medak, Sangareddy, Rangareddy, Nalgonda, Mahabubnagar and Khammam. Aspiring entrepreneurs in these places will have the opportunity to pitch an idea and get selected for the acceleration programme.
Twelve colleges have been identified in each destination where the Van will stop for day-long bootcamps
Over the past year, KTR has been talking of taking innovation into the hinterlands of Telangana. The Telangana government has identified five locations that will be grown as tech destinations. Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Khammam, Warangal and Mahabubnagar are the towns.
TNM reported in March that Telangana government sanctioned Rs 25 crore in each of these towns to set up IT hubs, which will be built as plug-and-play facilities.
Kicking things off, KTR inaugurated a SR Innovation Exchange, a technology business incubation centre in Warangal, which the government claims is the largest tech innovation centre in a tier 2 town. Spread across one lakh square foot, SR Innovation Exchange also surpasses Telangana government’s pet project T-Hub, which is currently the largest incubation centre in the country.