CII: Incubation hub at Utkal University to fuel start-up dreams

Bhubaneswar: Under the aegis of RUSA 2.0, Utkal University has set up a business incubator, christened as ‘Centre for Innovation and Incubation’ (CII) for promotion of start-ups and creating a thriving ecosystem for entreplreneurship development and innovation. Centre for Agri-Management (CAM), repute in Agribusiness is the participating Institute (PI) of Centre for Innovation and Incubation(CII).

Located on the premises of the University, CII has been envisaged to offer a host of services to the budding start-ups ranging from pre incubation, incubation, acceleration, co-working spaces, seed funding, advisory support, mentoring support, market linkage, training and hand holding. Thematically, although the key technology focus areas for CII are Agri-tech, Food Processing, Biotechnology, Green Technology, Eco Tourism, Rural Technology but it will also incubate and nurture any good innovative idea which has commercial potential. The mandate of the centre is to assist entrepreneurs of the Utkal University (faculty, staff, alumni and students) as well as the external start-up community to commercialize their product/service ideas and accelerate economic growth. CII provides a platform to students, aspiring entrepreneurs, technology start-ups as well as lab-stage innovations to flourish. CII aims to ignite young minds with entrepreneurship culture by motivating the students to venture into starting student start-ups thus truly fulfilling the vision of Atma Nirbhar Bharat. It will also fuel the start-up dreams among the budding entrepreneurs, students, women by transforming their dream into reality. It aims to pioneer the startup culture not only in the urban city corridors, but also among the less known but highly talented and motivated entrepreneurs of the rural hinterland.

The Incubation Centre has recently launched its start-up launchpad program ‘Upakram’ through its event titled ‘IDEATHON M2M 2021’. (For more details about the program, visit the website ‘https://ciiutkal.com/’).

Recently CII has appointed Dr.Manisha Acharya as CEO and other three full time professionals to run this incubator smoothly. The long-term goal of this incubator is to make an Innovation Corridor for Rural Innovation, Agri and Food Technology, Green Technology, traditional art and crafts, eco-tourism, bio-marine & plant/herbal medicines for the eastern part of India.

On the auspicious occasion of Teacher’s Day, Prof. Sabita Acharya, Vice-Chancellor, Utkal University inaugurated the Centre of Innovation and Incubation (CII) on the premises of the campus. The inauguration ceremony was also attended by Avaya Nayak, Registrar, Utkal University and Prof. Basant Kumar Mallik, Chairman PG Council, Utkal University. In her inaugural address, Prof. Acharya commented “CII has been ideated and established as an incubation hub within the University’s ecosystem to fuel the start-up dreams of young entrepreneurs from the students, alumni as well as being open to innovators from other parts of India. Deepak Ram, Head of the Center for Agri-Management, was present and spoke about the various activities of the Incubation Center. With its state-of-the-art physical infrastructure, training programs, and access to a network of like-minded collaborators and knowledge partners, it will strive to be a leading incubator of the country by igniting the start-up cultures even in the tribal pockets of Odisha to the remote North East parts of the country. We look forward to submission of ideas and proposals from interested entrepreneurs and start-ups to CII in its upcoming Ideathon M2M 2021 program.”