Chandigarh, Dec 28 (IANS): With an aim to give further impetus to entrepreneurship and innovation in the state, the Startup Punjab Cell on Tuesday signed an MoU with the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology here.

Secretary-cum-Director, Industries and Commerce Sibin C., who is also the state startup nodal officer, signed the MoU on behalf of Startup Punjab, while Executive Director Jatinder Kaur Arora signed on behalf of the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology.

Startup Punjab and the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology have pledged to work together to further facilitate startups by extending their respective institutional expertise in terms of network, relationships, technology, knowledge, and management aspects towards strengthening the Punjab entrepreneurship ecosystem.

"Punjab has a rich tradition of entrepreneurship that dates back several decades, and Punjabis have gone on to establish strong businesses in different sectors such as agriculture and food orocessing, textiles, pharmaceuticals, steel, nanufacturing, etc," said Sibin C, while adding that Startup Punjab is committed to strengthening the startup ecosystem of the state by providing mentorship, fiscal support, incubation and acceleration support.

He said the MoU will go a long way in bolstering the startup and innovation ecosystem in the state by providing much needed intellectual property support and technical aid to the startups.

Entrepreneurs can avail reaserch and development assistance and business and technical mentorship to scale their ideas, he added.