Visakhapatnam: RINL, the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, signed an MoU with STPI and Stipnext for the establishment of a Centre of Excellence for the promotion of startup activities in the steel plant and industries in and around Visakhapatnam.
The MoU was signed between the CMD of RINL Atul Bhatt and the director of STPI CVD Ram Prasad in Visakhapatnam on Monday.
Atul Bhatt said that the setting up of the Centre of Excellence was the need of the hour and it would become an example of industry and academia interface where everyone would come up with a solution which would benefit the country and would usher in a nationwide movement in digitalisation in the steel industry.
“India is now becoming the epicentre for steel making in the world and India stands as the second largest steel producer in the world. And now Vizag will become the hub of providing solutions in steel making to the country,”Atul Bhatt added.
The Centre for Excellence will go a long way in supporting the "Atma Nirbhar Bharat" and in incubating start-ups from ideation to product development in Industry 4.0.
The CoE, named Kalpataru, is coming up in a built-up space of approximately 6,000 square feet at Ukkunagaram. It will house an industrial robotics lab, an industrial drone lab, and an industrial IOT (Internet of Things) lab. The Centre will also be provided with high-speed internet and server setup using cloud computing to have capabilities for working with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML).
This is being established with funding support from the Ministry of Electronics and IT, the Government of India, RINL and the Government of Andhra Pradesh.
The start-ups will be aptly supported by the premier institutes like IIM Visakhapatnam and Andhra University in the form of research inputs in management and technology.
