Innovation cell to nurture start-ups

The State Innovation Cell will not only provide space for earlystage start-ups but also provide them a host of services including legal aid to help them take baby steps.

While T-Hub supports start-ups that have crossed the ideation stage and gained acceptance in the market, the Innovation Cell will support earlystage start-ups, incubators and co-working spaces.

T-Hub is meant to collaborate with start-ups and workspaces to put entrepreneurs’ idea into action. Early stage startups have found themselves in a limbo, limited by finances and the repercussions of the change in the track of the catalyst.

To give the start-up ecosystem a boost, the State Innovation Cell is now working with highend incubators like THub and the IIIT incubator to collaborate with the remaining co-working spaces and incubators in Hyderabad.

IT secretary Jayesh Ranjan said, “The government wants all incubators and co-working spaces to maintain minimum standards because Hyderabad needs to be recognised, and not just T-Hub. We have set up an innovation cell as part of the innovation policy so that every co-working space gets recognised and in turn its start-ups receive recognition.”

“The cell will pool workspaces and provide services to early-stage startups at three levels — the quality of working space, start-ups ask questions and finally start-ups can collaborate at the domain-specific point,” said Mr Ramesh Loganathan, who is part of the cell.

Start-ups in co-working spaces which provide basic services such as space and electricity will get shared services such as access to legal and accounting departments, with help from T-Hub and the IIIT incubator.

“This shared enablement will help beginners because co-working space alone cannot provide the services required by start-ups,” said Mr Loganathan

“Hyderabad-based startups are doing well, but we need to get billion-dollar deals. Investors will be attracted when a place offers options. When the city improves its standards, funding will increase. With more funding, there will be more start-ups, and the city will get recognised,” said Mr Ranjan.