AKTU to set up Lucknow chapter of Startup Accelerator India
Promote startups and generate innovative ideas among students
Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU) will set up the Lucknow chapter of Startup Accelerator India (SAI) to promote startups and to generate innovative ideas among students, its vice-chancellor Vinay Pathak announced on Tuesday.
The decision was announced at the inaugural session of the twoday Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Memorial International Youth Conference jointly organised by Kalam Centre and AKTU in Lucknow, a day before the Missile Man’s first death anniversary on July 27.
The university will sign a memorandum of understanding with Startup Accelerator India (SAI) under Anand Govindaluri, managing director and chief executive of Singapore-based Govin Capital.
Lucknow will be the third chapter of SAI and will fund startups in healthcare in general, big data and EdTech as well as social entrepreneurs. It is already supporting two such initiatives in Visakhapatnam and Pune.
To invite ideas, a competition called Kalam Techno-preneurial Business Plan Challenge will be held to select the best workable ideas for funding.
“We will help engineering college students, IITians and medical students to be a part of this grand initiative. As many as 40-50 ideas will be picked for the event,” said Govindaluri, who was appointed to the advisory board to mentor Kalam Centre.
Srijan Pal Singh, a graduate from IIM Ahmedabad who co-authored several books with Kalam, convinced Anand to associate with the project. It will also invite women and those working in the social sector to participate in the event.
In his address, UP Governor Ram Naik said for any country youth is an asset. “But if they are not utilised properly, they may turn out to be a liability,” he said. Minister of state for technical education, MF Kidwai said Kalam had a lot of expectations from the youth to make the earth a livable place. A large number of students from different parts of the country were invited to take part in this conclave.
Those felicitated on the occasion were: Vivek Pateshwari, co-founder and CEO of Invite My Guest, Amitabh Shah, founder of Yuva Unstoppable, Balasaheb Darade, a well known social entrepreneur, Akshay Agarwal, young entrepreneur, Laxmi and Alok who work for acid attack survivors.