Startup ecosystem thriving: MCCIA

Pune: Participants at a monthly meeting of MCCIA’s startup incubation cell said their real-life solutions had already shown results, especially during peak lockdown last year.
“One startup we mentored launched the ‘Third Eye’ application, which was used to implement the e-pass system during the pandemic. The Pune police also use the application to scan QR codes placed across the city to help with beats policing,” Anil Sharma, head of the entrepreneurship programme at Digital Impact Square — an initiative of the TCS Foundation — which works in Pune and Nashik, among other places in Maharashtra.
KPIT’s Sparkle incubation system is aimed at mentoring students, who retain the intellectual property rights for their ideas.
“Our initiative connects students to the startup ecosystem, and we also holds an annual event in which their ideas are taken through the cycle of identification, training, connecting with partners, and deployment of the full product,” Rahul Uplap, from Sparkle said.
“We have a dedicated programme for startups across the country. Regionally, we have seen a number of hubs for startups — Aurangabad, Nagpur, and Nashik, etc.” Parimal Ramaiya, vice-president of HDFC Bank, said.