Kalam Centre to fund 3 start-ups
LUCKNOW: The Kalam Centre for Innovation and Incubation of Startups (KCIIS), established at Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU), will help three start-ups (that will bring about a change in society) with an initial fund of Rs 10 lakh each.
The first is an idea of IIT BHU, to purify drinking water using less electricity, the second is about a pneumatic-based threshing machine for farmers and the last is a health care startup. The last two innovations were from students of AKTU colleges.
Governor Ram Naik on Thursday will give away the seed money of Rs 10 lakh each to these three startups. The day also marks the second death anniversary of Bharat Ratna Dr APJ Abdul Kalam .
The governor will also formally launch the Kalam Centre for Innovation and Incubation of Startups. This would be in the form of a website as well as the first phase of the state of the art 7,000 sq ft incubation facility, said Prof Vinay Kumar Pathak, vice chancellor of AKTU.
Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU) had set up the Lucknow chapter of Startup Accelerator India (SAI) to promote startups and to incubate innovative ideas among students, Pathak announced on Wednesday.
The university has signed a memorandum of understanding with Startup Accelerator India under Anand Govindaluri, managing director and chief executive of Singapore-based Govin Capital.
Lucknow is 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 Vishakhapatnam and Pune.
“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,” Govindaluri, who was appointed to the advisory board to mentor Kalam Centre, said.
Srijan Pal Singh, a graduate from IIM Ahmedabad who co-authored several books with Kalam, convinced Anand to become associated with the project.