Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 27 (IANS): India's first telecom business incubator will be set up in Kerala under Infosys co-founder and Executive Co-chairman Kris Gopalakrishnan.
The Indian Telecom Innovation Hub will focus primarily on student start-ups from college campuses and would be modelled on technology incubators in the Silicon Valley, an official press release said Thursday.
"With the launch of Telecom Innovation Hub, the aspiring young entrepreneurs of the state will get an opportunity to work closely with big companies and create path breaking technologies," said Kerala Industries and IT Minister P.K. Kunhalikutty.
The National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB) of the central government's Department of Science and Technology, Technopark and MobME Wireless have joined hands to set up the hub.
It aims to incubate 1,000 product start-ups over 10 years and start the search for a billion dollar company from a college campus by the turn of this decade.
Gopalakrishnan has agreed to be the chief mentor of the hub.
This is one of the first public-private-partnership (PPP) technology business incubator in the country. Subject to the availability of land, its most likely location would be Kochi, the statement added.
"NSTEDB is pleased to support this innovative PPP model," said NSTEDB Head and Advisor H.K. Mittal.