Background
In line with our prime objective to contribute to the growth and development of the country through growth of innovation-led entrepreneurship, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is leading from the frontlines to forge government partnership, galvanize significant industry resources and key domestic and multi-national stakeholder expertise as its engagement and stake in national policy making rises with each year.
For instance, since its launch in 2009, India Innovation Initiative - i3, a flagship innovation challenge jointly-promoted by the CII, the Department of Science, & Technology, Government of India and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), has been selecting a set of high-impact innovators from across the country and acknowledging their efforts through regional & national platforms and connecting them with incubators, mentors and investors to support them in commercialising their innovations.
During interactions and by experience of collaborating with various stakeholders of Indian Start-up ecosystem, there is a clear need felt for large number of trainers, mentors, and corporate connect. In addition, financial support or funding is a significant need to enable commercialisation of innovations and for their scale-up.
The innovators and early-stage start-up entrepreneurs, who come from all corners of the country, different walks of life, and diverse cultural backgrounds, possess latent entrepreneurial potential but are unable to realize the same due to a variety of constraints including lack of information/knowledge, very limited access to capital or funding, virtually no mentors, and fear of failure. Therefore, providing them with the right kind of training, knowledge, skills, and resources is imperative to help them undertake entrepreneurship.
As partner of the Government of India on missions such as Start-Up India, Make In India and Digital India, CII is working towards developing and strengthening the start-up ecosystem of India, by creating a pool of certified trainers such as incubator and accelerator managers, investors and academia, who will further extend training to shortlisted innovators (of i3) on commercialisation of innovations and formation of start-up business ventures. CII is also creating platforms to connect start-ups with innovative solutions to corporate entities, bringing global players, and is playing a significant, long term role in enabling the Indian start-ups to establish and expand their foot print across the globe.