STPI Launches Work On Incubation Centre On AU Campus In Vizag

Visakhapatnam: Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), an autonomous institute set up to promote IT and ITES industry, innovation, R&D, startups and IP creation in the field of emerging technologies, has kick-started work on a futuristic incubation centre on Andhra University campus.

STPI Director General Arvind Kumar performed the bhoomi pooja for the project in the presence of administration and teaching staff from AU here on Wednesday, a premier institute of learning. STPI was established in 1991 by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) with the objective to encourage, promote and boost export of software from India. It has 60 plus centres including in Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad and Bhubaneswar with headquarters in New Delhi. Informal sources said the incubation centre will be developed in an area of one acre given by AU at a cost of nearly Rs19 crore.

It will have a ground floor plus four floors with a built-up area of 30,000 sq ft. In a posting on X, STPI Visakhapatnam stated that Arvind Kumar, Director General of STPI performed the bhoomi pooja to commence construction work for STPI incubation facility. "The state-of-the-art center will empower startups and early-stage businesses by offering cutting-edge infrastructure, essential resources and unparallelled support to fuel innovation and growth," STPI said in the update on its X handle.

"The initiative will give a fillip to promotion of innovation culture and strengthen the startup ecosystem," Rushikonda IT Park Association (RITPA) vice-president O. Naresh Kumar told Bizz Buzz on Thursday.

Earlier, STPI entered into an understanding with AU to construct a spacious building in an area of 60 acres near A Hub on the premises of engineering college to mentor and handhold startups in multiple domains mainly on emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, robotics, predictive analysis, Internet of Things, cyber security and cloud computing in nearly 20 acres. STPI in association with industrial bodies and RINL has already set up a centre at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant for promotion of Industry 4.0.