Bengaluru, Sep 25 (IANS): Union Education Minister Pralhad Joshi on Friday called upon established startup founders and industry partners to mentor emerging innovators, saying those who had received support during their early stages should now help young entrepreneurs turn their ideas into products and scalable solutions.
Addressing the Seva First Innovation Challenge at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru, Joshi said the government and IISc would support young innovators and ensure that promising ideas received continued mentoring even beyond the competition.
“When you were struggling to put up a startup, someone or the other supported you. Now you support these young people, our bright future,” Joshi said, urging startup founders and industry partners to engage with the teams participating in the challenge.
He said the objective of the initiative was not merely to offer prize money, but to identify promising ideas, provide mentoring and support, and facilitate their implementation on a larger scale.
Joshi said innovation should ultimately be guided by the spirit of ‘Seva’ and focus on solving problems faced by ordinary people, particularly poor people, farmers and labourers.
“We did innovation, we did everything, but for the common person, who is having real need, you should try to understand them, their problems, and that problem has to be solved. That is the intention,” he said.
Highlighting India’s growing startup ecosystem, Joshi said the number of startups had increased from around 360 in 2014 to about 2.4 lakh currently, making India the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem. Nearly half of the startups, he said, are from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.
He also said India’s Global Innovation Index ranking had improved from 81 in 2015 to 38 currently. The country had filed more than one lakh patents in the last 10 years, compared to around 4,200 in 2013-14, he said.
Recalling the participation of Indian startups at the BRICS summit, Joshi said 120 startups had showcased their innovations at Bharat Mandapam, where leaders from BRICS countries interacted with young entrepreneurs.
He said young innovators should be given opportunities to experiment, develop prototypes and convert their ideas into products that could benefit society.
Joshi also proposed creating a national repository through the Seva First Innovation Challenge website so that promising ideas could remain available for future mentoring and large-scale adoption.
Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Viksit Bharat’, Joshi said young minds would have a key role in India’s development over the next two decades.
“The future is yours. Future of the world is in India, and that future belongs to you,” he told the participants.
