New Delhi, May 24 (IANS): Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Wednesday that there is an urgent need to enhance co-operation between corporates, government, academia, and startups so that the talent pool in the country can further innovate and build solutions to solve real-life problems.

In his address at the CII Startups Summit during a session titled "Unlocking Innovation Through Corporate Startups Engagement," the minister emphasised on empowering startups via corporate and government collaboration.

"These are great times to increase the ties between corporates, government, academia and startups to help grow the innovation capabilities of our country and the innovation ecosystem capabilities in our country," Chandrasekhar told the gathering.

He said that in the past nine years, the country has come a long distance on empowering startups.

India currently has the third largest startup ecosystem, behind the US and China.

"These are exciting time for young entrepreneurs in India as they have so many opportunities around them," the minister added.

On Tuesday, the minister said that the upcoming Digital India Act (DIA) will be an enabler for startup innovations in the country.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi is very clear that anything the government does should not cause difficulties for innovation in the startup space," Chandrasekhar said at a Mumbai event.

"We will be extremely sensitive to this. It is not in our intention at all to make things difficult for startups. DIA will be an enabler for startup innovations," the minister added.