Kerala Creates World’s 1st Digital Incubator For Students; Facility Thrown Open For Students Pan-India
Kerala, which achieved 100% mobile penetration and was declared as India’s first Digital State, has set another milestone for the rest of India. World’s first digital incubator for students has been launched in Kerala, which will provide mentorship and guidance to young entrepreneurs from all over the country.
The facility would be inaugurated by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan on July 13th.
This unique incubator would be established under Kochi Startup Village, whose Chief Mentor is Kris Gopalakrishnan. Ground work was started a year ago, and already they have received 1000+ applications from all over the country.
Kris said, “It does not matter if you are from a village or a town. All one needs is to have hunger to succeed, and we are looking for you. Visit www.SV.CO/apply and be part of building the future of India,”
Digital Incubator for Students: The Framework
Students can apply individually or they can form a team and then pitch their product or idea to the mentors. Once the application is approved, students would be guided and mentored to help create a prototype within 6 months, and launch in the market quickly.
Application would be approved based on several pointers, mainly being its market feasibility and innovation about solving a problem.
Based on the feedback from mentors, these students can gradually climb up the ladder, and get access to incubators, accelerators, and even raise angel funding. Besides,. The teams can be hired collectively by large firms, and they can be even sponsored for higher studies.
Existing Jobs Are Vanishing; But Startups Can Create New Jobs
We have already reported how existing jobs are vanishing en-masse, as traditional jobs are being now done by robots and automation. WEF has already warned that robotics and automation can kill 5.1 million jobs by 2020. And less than 20% graduates are getting jobs, even after doing MBA.
Kochi Startup Village has said that Indian economy needs 1 million jobs a month, and these new startups by young guns would be the source of new jobs.
Milestones By Kerala
Earlier, Kerala Govt. has encouraged students to think differently and inspired them to create by providing Raspberry Pi to school students.
When local cab owners felt threatened by new-age, tech driven taxi app companies like Uber and Ola, then instead of protesting, they launched their real-time app for taking bookings. Open Source solutions adapted by Kerala State Electricity Board is already saving them Rs 8 crore per year.
By achieving 100% broadband connectivity across every village, Kerala is already hailed as India’s only Digital State. Infact, Kochi Startup Village, which has created this unique digital incubator for young guns has also achieved 1 Gbps Internet speed last year, becoming World’s 2nd such location.
