CII, Pratiksha Trust open CoE in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in partnership with Government of Telangana and Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan family’s Pratiksha Trust opened a Centre of excellence for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Startups (CIES) in Hyderabad on Thursday. This is the 10th CoE of the industry body in the country and its objective is to bridge the gap between corporates and the startups.

The CIES was inaugurated by Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary Industries & Commerce (I&C) and Information Technology (IT) Departments, Government of Telangana, along with Kris Gopalakrishnan - Chairman, CII CIES Chairman, Axilor Ventures Co-Founder, Infosys Trustee, Pratiksha Trust and other senior industry leaders. On the occasion, Gopalakrishnan said that the CII-CIES will contribute to the most vibrant startup ecosystem existing in Hyderabad. Having 200 seats and sophisticated facilities, the centre will work with the ecosystem stakeholders to increase their odds of success for startups, with focus on innovation and entrepreneurship skill sets.

The CII-led initiative offers training and educational programmes, incubation and acceleration programmes for startups, and corporate engagement for innovation and scaleup agenda throughout the year. The centre will also work with startups to create, incubate and accelerate within the corporate offices and family office engagements in the long-run.

Jayesh Ranjan in his address mentioned that eight years ago, Government of Telangana very consciously decided to make Hyderabad a startup hub and have taken many concrete steps towards this journey. The State government has consciously collaborated with external talent to exemplary institutions. As envisaged, the CIES will become a corner stone for the startup movement.”

The launch of the Centre also saw exchange of MoUs with 12 corporate firms including Apollo Hospitals, Elico Ltd, Skoda Auto and Vedanta for Corporate Accelerator Programmes.