Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) had started an initiative at the one-year anniversary event of ‘Startup India’. The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Nirmala Sitharaman, has announced the development of the Startup India Online Hub. It is an online platform for all stakeholders of the entrepreneurial ecosystem to discover, connect and engage with each other.
The Startup India initiative which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March 2016, which operations as a single point of contact for the entire startup ecosystem and to enable the exchange of knowledge.
The Online Hub will facilitate learning and development, networking, mentorship, funding, etc. for startups. It will also function as a nodal platform that will offer coherent access to information, knowledge, funds, and other non-financial resources.
As stated in Inc42, The Online Hub will have the following features –
Location-based discovery: The hub will have location-based discovery and be able to deliver custom recommendations to users about incubators/accelerators/co-working spaces, patient facilitators, etc. as per their location
Artificial intelligence: The platform will build smart intelligence along with chatbots to automatically collate, update information, and deliver relevant replies to queries
Open Application Programming Interface (Open API): The Online Hub will be the first Government website in India to operate on an open architecture model allowing the integration of content from Government and private stakeholders.
Analytics (traffic & engagement): Integrating Google Analytics, Firebase etc. to analyse and optimise page traffic as well as increase user engagement on the web portal.
Gamification: The platform will be gamified to boost the effectiveness of interactions among stakeholders and will also boast a ‘lite’ version which will use web cache to deliver recommendations on the basis of past user history on the website.
Networking platform: The platform will also act as a networking platform and provide users with access to networking opportunities through activities such as access to other user profiles, connection & message requests, relevant startup events, etc.
As per the Ministery, Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Delhi are the three startup hubs of the country, with more than 65% of startups emerging from these spaces. Areas like Jaipur, Hyderabad, and Kochi are other three emerging hubs in the country.
With this programme, the government further aims to connect startups with each other in the remotest parts of the country, as well, by creating a collaborative platform.Read more about Indian Startup Ecosystem.
