Startups are the initiatives to bring innovation into the mainstream. The action plan is to focus on simplification and handholding. Another important aspect of startups is industry-academia partnership and incubation. Looking at these aspects National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) and Council of Scientific and Industrial ResearchNational Aerospace Laboratories (CSIR-NAL) have joined hands to establish an ‘Innovation-cum-Incubation Centre’ with external private funding to promote startups in the emerging area of aerospace technologies.
Under this programme, startups in the area of aerospace engineering would be incubated, mentored and supported for product and prototype development and their validation. “It is a historical day as NRDC and CSIR-NAL forged an innovative partnership to promote startups in the niche high tech area of aerospace engineering and this partnership may pave a way for establishing Innovation-cum -Incubation Centres in other CSIR laboratories which are working in different thematic areas,” said Dr H Purushotham, chief managing director, NRDC. He also said that this partnership would help to create employment opportunities for the youth of the country as it was the need of the hour.
The agreement was signed by Dr H Purushotham and Dr Jitendra J Jadhav, director, CSIR-NAL and was exchanged by the representatives of both the organisations in the presence of Dr Shekhar C Mande, secretary, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) and director general, CSIR, R Vaidheeswaran, joint secretary, DSIR and other senior officials of CSIR and NAL at CSIR Headquarters, New Delhi.