Telangana State Innovation Cell has launched the ‘Government Mentorship Program’ in Hyderabad, which aims to build familiarity between startups and Government officials. Ten startups have been chosen for the first cohort.
The program has been rolled out for the ITE&C Department focusing on Big Data, machine learning and artificial intelligence, Media, Content and several other emerging technologies, which could potentially be useful to solve various problems for the Government.
According to a statement from the TSIC, the program received over 200 applications from all over the country, of which 19 were invited for launch day to present their ideas before the panels, consisting of government officials and industry experts from 50K Ventures, which is the program partner.
“We are taking forward two smart solutions and giving them a PoC and we liked two other digital media solutions where we will provide mentoring to make their solutions relevant to work with Government or large-scale organisations,” Konatham Dileep, Director Digital Media, Telangana government said after the startups pitched their ideas to the jury.
The 10 startups selected for the first cohort of Government Mentor Program are Karnataka based Legitdoc, Noida-based Precily, Stumagz, Lakeer, Kaarmic Education Services, Raasta Studios, Thanos, IOT Research Labs, Red matter, RHPD Software Solutions, all from Hyderabad.
As part of the program this cohort of startups will be mentored by Government officials for a period of three months where they will be guided on how to make their products provide solutions for better governance.
"Government Mentor Program is reflective of Telangana Government's commitment to work with startups to provide better Governance and help startups in their growth,” GTV Rao, Commissioner E-Governance said. He is one of the government mentors for the program.
TSIC also recently concluded ‘Intintaa Innovator’ campaign with an objective to provide a platform for students and entrepreneurs in tier II and III cities to present their innovation and help them realise their startup dreams. 201 shortlisted ideas were pitched to the final jury panel, out of which top 10 winning ideas received a cash prize of Rs 50,000 each and the 10 Runner up teams got a cash prize of Rs 25,000 each. Also, all the top 20 teams were given pre-incubation offers by multiple incubators.