Guj CM launches 'Student Startup and Innovation Policy'

Gandhinagar, Jan 5 (IANS) The Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Wednesday launched 'Student Startup and Innovation Policy' (SSIP 2.0), which will have provision of setting up active innovation and incubation centre in all universities. The policy was launched during the inauguration of a pre-vibrant event of two day conference on education.

The Gujarat Chief Minister inaugurated the International Conference of Academic Institutions (ICAI) as a precursor to the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit (VGGS) to be held between January 10 and 12 in Gandhinagar. The VGGS will be inaugurated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The version 2.0 of the SSIP intends to aware 50 lakh students across 1,000 higher education institutes and 10,000 schools for innovation and entrepreneurship. The policy intends to give assistance to 10,000 proof of concepts/prototypes developed by students.

The policy also proposes creation of strong pre-incubation support system in minimum 500 educational institutes and universities.

Under the policy, Rs. 5 crore will be provided to the beneficiaries in the next five years for setting up incubation centre and encourage the innovation activities in universities of the state through the new policy.

186 institutions and universities are mentioned as SSIP grantees. The new policy will remain in force till March 2027.

Meanwhile, at ICAI, around 120 panel speakers, including 40 from abroad, will be sharing their experiences across 21 different sessions during the 2-day conference. Australia, Canada, Norway, the UK and France have joined as partner countries for this conference, while the British Council, Australia India Business Exchange and Institute of International Education are among the key institutions which have joined as international participants.

Over 2,000 MoUs will be signed between various government entities, universities and institutions during the event.