HIGHLIGHTS OF ANDHRA PRADESH’S START UP AND INNOVATION POLICY.

Andhra Pradesh creates history as the first government to come up with the Innovation and Start-Up Policy. AP created the Innovation and Startup Policy with a dream of Mr.Chandrababu Naidu to have an Entrepreneur in every family in Andhra Pradesh. The following are targeted to be achieved with the policy by June 30, 2019: 

  • 100 Incubators / Accelerators to be established
  • 5,000 Companies & Start Ups to be incubated.
  • 1 million sq ft of Incubation Space to be developed.
  • Venture Capital of Rs 1000 Cr to be mobilized for Innovation.
  • Encourage and Develop Innovation Culture.
  • Create at least one homegrown billion dollar technology start-up.

The Start-Up Policy will focus on the following themes in the Initial Period:

  • Internet of Things (IoT)
  • ‘IT for X’ in the areas of Pharma, oil & gas, urban management.
  • Social Media, Mobility, Analytics and Cloud Computing (SMAC)
  • Fables Semiconductors
  • Animation & Gaming
  • Entertainment
  • Visual Effects
  • Health and Fitness
  • Automotive

IT policy of Andhra Pradesh state is the Mother Policy of the Start Up policy, meaning any applicable benefit will be valid for a start up.

The Start up Policy will stand on 5 Pillars:

Shared Infrastructure, Accelerators / Incubators, Human Capital, Funding and above all, a system of Good Governance (State Support).

1. Shared Infrastructure: 

  • Shared Infrastructure at Zero Cost to be provided to the Start ups until they attain self sustainability.
  • Govt to develop physical incubation infrastructure in PPP model.
  • World class infra to include R&D labs, Office spaces, hostels, residential spaces, Innovation Zones, etc.
  • The principles of green buildings, green IT, e-Waste management, Walk-to-Work and Cycle-to-Work shall be followed while designing the facilities.

Common Infrastructure: The Government would facilitate the creation of support infrastructure for development of innovation ecosystem to attract new entrepreneurs, such as:

  • Common Testing labs &tool Rooms.
  • Enterprise Software & shared Hardware.
  • Shared services like legal, accounting, technology, Patents, Investment Banking.
  • Other Amenities and Facilities like individual accommodation, hostel rooms.
  • A community for Start-ups.

2. Accelerators and Incubators: 

  • The Government shall establish at least one world class Accelerator/ Incubator by inviting global Accelerators and Incubators to set up their programs in the state.
  • The Government will also support small accelerators/incubators in multiple locations, by providing support and space to bring in expertise and Start-ups in the incubation centres through diverse models.
  • The government targets to create 1 million square feet of Incubation Space by 2019.
  • Government proposes to partner with Indian and globally successful Incubators in order to replicate the successful Funding and Mentoring Models.
  • The Government would focus on closely monitor the proceedings of the initial batches/ groups in the Incubation centres as these would seed the ecosystem which will fuel the subsequent batches.

3. Human Capital: 

– Updating Syllabus:The Universities will be advised to change the course curriculum to be in tune with the emerging technologies and align to the requirements of the Industry, and to introduce courses in entrepreneurship development through incubators.

–  Industry Experts may be leveraged to teach courses
at incubators and students who are interested may elect these courses.

–  Faculty Up-gradation: A special scheme of faculty up-gradation shall be introduced.

– Mandatory Internship for all the Undergrad colleges. This will be waived off for students who are Start Up in an Incubation Center.

– Credits to MOOCs and Insertion as electives. Online courses will be given credits and students will be given a choice of selecting the elective through out the Undergrad education.

Gap Year – the concept of Student Entrepreneur in Residence: Universities may introduce the concept of Student Entrepreneur in Residence. Outstanding students who wish to pursue entrepreneurship can take a break of one year, after the first year, to pursue entrepreneurship full time. This may be extended to two years at the most and these two years would not be counted for the time for the maximum time for graduation. Even though this can be done even now, our society is still not ready and thus having this as a scheme from the University would allow the parents to be comfortable and confident that this is a government-approved scheme that their children are availing.

IT and Entrepreneurship @ College level:

  • All Universities in Andhra Pradesh may give 5% grace marks and 20% attendance every semester for student Start-up teams, which have at least one woman as a cofounder.
  • Student entrepreneurs working on a Start-up idea from the first year of college may be permitted to convert their Start-up project as their final year project towards degree completion.
  • All the above three proposals may be implemented by Universities from the Semester Starting from June-July 2014 itself and may issue this with immediate effect.
  • A program would be conceptualized to have district-level competitions for business ideas for the Student groups from 8th to 10th Standards with a maximum grant of Rs. 25,000 per idea. A maximum of 50 ideas each year would be facilitated.
  • Innovation and Transformation Academy to be set up in Tirupati.
  • College and School Level Entrepreneurship Development Cells (Boot-camps) maybe created.
  • An international Start-up program would be set up to send the most brilliant start-ups, college and school students to leading Start-up destinations around the world for getting global exposure at a young age.
  • Advertisement and marketing support subsidies will be provided for digital marketing.

4. Funding- Andhra Pradesh Innovation Fund:

 Innovation Fund to be set up with an initial amount of 100 Crores.  The Fund would support the establishment of Pilot Incubators and Human Capital Developmental Programmes through Host Institutes approved by the National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board, Government of India.

5. State Support: 

  • Single window approvals and clearances cell.
  • Awards for Innovation that attend to societal problems.
  • Govt operated  “Could Server” to provide cloud services to Start Ups at low cost.
  • Government would procure Enterprise versions of key software required for testing and other purposes at incubators.
  • In order to promote education in hardware manufacturing and creating prototypes of hardware products a High End FABLAB from MIT (Boston, USA) would be setup at a Pilot Incubator.
  • Incentives:
  • All MSME benefits of IT policy are applicable to start ups.
  • Reimbursement of VAT.

Other:

  • Andhra Pradesh Innovation Council (APInC)’ would be formed with the representatives of industry, incubators and the other stakeholders.
  • Assistance at Rs. 12,500 per month, for a maximum period of three years per incubated Start-up company located in the identified Incubation Centre developed by the State.
  • Fully Furnished and Ready to use Plug and Play Infrastructure along with Computers with 1GBPS internet connectivity, Electricity, Water, Security and other office facilities would be provided as Infrastructure support from the State Government for the Pilot Incubators.
  • This Policy would be valid till 2020 unless modified to make it much better.