Startups! Becoming a National Mission

National Mission

Sh. Narinder Modi, India’s honorable Prime Minister, declared that January 16th will be celebrated as National Startup Day annually, winning the hearts of millions of ambitious job creators and entrepreneurs. This announcement has instilled a strong sense of optimism among the youth and the startup community, elevating startup development to a national priority. Since the commencement of Startup India and Standup India in 2016, there has been a tremendous increase in the number of new startups. As a result, the significance of startups has grown and there are now over 40 thousand startups in India, with over 50 unicorns, a 200 percent increase since 2016. Bolt, Wow Momo, Chaayos, Urban Clap, Pixxel, Xovian, InMobi and Freshworks among others. The India Pavilion at the Dubai Expo is in action, on international turf and in the spotlight, with over 500 Indian startups pitching to HNI and investors over the course of five months as part of the popular pitching series, which takes place outside the India Pavilion in Dubai at the innovation bus station. Kudos to the DPIIT, Startup India, and the FICCI for making this possible; this is a very significant opportunity creation.

Inspired by the above national and global scenarios, Chitkara University Centre for Entrepreneurship has been at the forefront of entrepreneurship development amongst its students and faculty. The key focus has been to identify problem statements in society and shape them into meaningful solutions and sustainable business ideas. The last quarter of 2021 witnessed some back-to-back action on entrepreneurship at Chitkara University’s Himachal Pradesh Campus. From sensitising each academic department to doing round-the-clock events on problem solving, design thinking and entrepreneurship development, coming in 2022, quarter one, CEED, Chitkara University Centre for Entrepreneurship & Education Development, aims to focus on designing thinking skills amongst its students and enhance their ability to problem solve, analyze the potential of a business idea and launch a commercial venture.

At Chitkara University and across academic institutions in India, a strong focus is being given to IIC (Institutions Innovation Council) by MHRD, the government of India and its potentially identified sectors for innovation, allowing academic institutions to work in sync with the government’s vision for innovation and startups. Students are working closely with CEED to gain a better perspective of customer development. Design thinking has become a significant aspect of academic learning, especially for individuals who wish to innovate and establish ventures, due to the necessity to have a deeper grasp of customer development than product creation and the theory of addiction to adoption. There has been a paradigm shift in the learning curve in India with this wave of startups on the rise, especially supporting the Indian government in developing innovative technologies for better E-Governance in alignment with Digital India. The announcement of National Startup Day has also given a higher level of confidence to investors who are coming forward to invest in Indian startups, boosting the national mission and adding to the strong positive feeling toward startups in India.

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