STPI Bhubaneswar Inks Two Pacts with NALCO, DST Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Two documents of understandings were inked by the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) Bhubaneswar on Thursday during the two-day visit of Arvind Kumar, Director General, STPI to Bhubaneswar.

Kumar, a technocrat of repute in the fields of IT & Telecom took over as DG, STPI in December 2021 and this was his maiden official visit to STPI Bhubaneswar.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between STPI and the National Aluminium Company Limited. Manas Panda, Director, STPI-Bhubaneswar and Subrat Kar, GGM (R&D), NALCO signed the MoU on behalf of their respective organisations. The MoU envisages cooperation and support between both the organisations for nurturing startups and innovators under incubation in Electropreneur Park Bhubaneswar, a Centre of Entrepreneurship (CoE) of STPI and those to be incubated in STPI’s upcoming CoE in Bhubaneswar specialising in Industry 4.0 and emerging technologies like cybersecurity and advanced analytics. NALCO would extend mentoring by experienced industry professionals of the company, share O&M related problem statements, extend test-bed for testing of solutions developed, provide need-based funding and seed capital support to selected startups and help connect the solutions developed to the market.

The second understanding in the shape of a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) was concluded between STPI and the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of Odisha. Manas Panda, Director, STPI-Bhubaneswar and Smt. Puspasree Puhan, Deputy Director, DST signed the MoA. As per the provisions, STPI will be a valued partner of DST in promoting biotech startups through the Bio-Innovation Grant Scheme. Selected biotech startups will be provided with funding, mentoring, prototype development assistance, product launching and go to market guidance through this scheme.
On the occasion, DG, STPI spoke about the contribution of STPI towards the software and IT services exports from India and expressed satisfaction that STPI will have eight centres in Odisha, the highest in any state.

Manoj Mishra, Secretary, E&IT stated that the coming together of STPI and NALCO as well as STPI and DST through these understandings is a big boon to the startups, innovators and entrepreneurs working in ESDM, Industry 4.0 and Biotechnology domains.

Manasa Prasad Mishra, Director (P&T), NALCO highlighted how the startup community and the startup ecosystem would be benefitted from the coming together of organisations from different business domains and expertise. Manas Panda, Director, STPI Bhubaneswar spoke about the upcoming Centre of Entrepreneurship on emerging technologies in Bhubaneswar.

The understandings were signed in the presence DG, STPI, Secretary, E&IT Department and Director (Project & Technical), NALCO. Many other senior officials of the three partnering organisations including Executive Director (P&T), NALCO and a good number of entrepreneurs from MSME and startups were present on the occasion.