CII\'s Centre of Excellence for Innovation, Entrepreneurship inaugurated at T-Hub

Hyderabad: The Confederation of Indian Industry's (CII) Centre of Excellence for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Startups (CII CIES) was inaugurated at T-Hub, Phase 2, on Thursday, by Jayesh Ranjan, principal secretary, IT.

Present at the event were Kris Gopalakrishnan, chairman, CII CIES and co-founder of Axilor Ventures and Pratiksha Trust, Suchitra Ella, CII southern region & co-founder and  MD of Bharat Biotech, and Shobna Kamineni, former CII president, executive vice-chair, Apollo Hospitals, and senior industry leaders.

The launch of the centre saw exchange of MoUs for corporate accelerator programmes with Apollo Hospitals, Elico Ltd, Skoda Auto and Vedanta.

The centre, an industry-led initiative, aims to use its reach and resources to bridge critical gaps such as capacity, resources and linkages, through targeted programmes and interventions.

The research platform turned co-creating and co-innovating workspace is now a 200-seater facility with plug-n-play workspaces, ideation labs, mentoring and innovation labs, in partnership with the state government and Pratiksha Trust.  

A statement said the CIES offers targeted training and educational programmes, incubation and acceleration programmes for start-ups, and corporate engagement for innovation and scale-up agenda.

Several entrepreneurs and start-up CEOs met the industry leaders and spoke about their ideas of innovative education, e-businesses, health, sports, blockchain, food, easy transport.

Speaking at the event, Ranjan expressed joy over the government helping CIES become a cornerstone for the start-up movement. Gopalakrishnan spoke about the two metrics to measure success — to see the start-ups become $100 million revenue companies and to see member companies working with start-ups and acquiring them.

C.K. Ranganathan of CavinCare assured that the CIES model would not only help start-ups but bring a win-win partnership, enabling mutual learning for corporates apart from receiving right mentorship.

The CII South Region will hold it annual regional meeting — Going Beyond Boundaries — on Friday featuring eminent panelists discussions topics such as transformation of industry, climate change and its impact on the global economy, role of India in creating a healthier world in 2047 and positioning India's leadership through sports, etc.