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SPIRE Punjab 2016
Startup Program for Innovation, Research
andEntrepreneurship
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Table of Content
1. Preamble ..............................................................................................................4
2. Definitions ............................................................................................................5
3. Vision ....................................................................................................................7
4. Mission .................................................................................................................7
5. Objective ..............................................................................................................7
6. Proposed Activities ...............................................................................................8
6.1 Industry-Academia Partnership and Incubation ........................................................................ 8
6.1.1.Establishment of sector specific incubators ....................................................................... 8
6.1.2. Harnessing existing incubator setup ................................................................................ 10
6.1.3. Creation of incubators and accelerators in PPP mode .................................................... 10
6.1.4. Creation of common infrastructure and co-working spaces .......................................... 11
6.1.5. Collaboration with Accelerators ....................................................................................... 11
6.1.6.Encouraging underserved sections of the society............................................................ 11
6.1.7. Startup Fests ...................................................................................................................... 11
6.2 Capacity Building ....................................................................................................................... 12
6.2.1. College Innovation Hubs ................................................................................................... 12
6.2.2. Innovation Challenge ........................................................................................................ 12
6.2.3. Innovation Camps ............................................................................................................. 12
6.3. Funding Support and Finance .................................................................................................. 12
6.3.1. Startup Fund ...................................................................................................................... 13
6.3.2. Alignment of CSR funds .................................................................................................... 13
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6.4. Regulatory Facilitation ............................................................................................................. 14
6.4.1. Startup Portal .................................................................................................................... 14
6.4.2. Self-Certification ................................................................................................................ 14
6.4.3. Assistance in Filling Patent ............................................................................................... 14
7. Implementation Structure ................................................................................ 15
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1. Preamble
In line with the Government of India’s initiative of Startup India, Government of Punjab is making
targeted efforts to create an eco-system wherein entrepreneurs can attain optimum potential.
Punjab is well-known for its entrepreneurial spirit and a testament of this spirit are - the well-
established h companies like Cremica, Hero, Vardhman, Trident, Nahar, etc. Punjab was in fact
the brewing ground for one of India’s first private sector startup accelerator – Morpheus which
successfully incubated 80 startups including Common Floor, Practo, Akohsa, etc. The State has
witnessed several success stories of new age entrepreneurs from the region like Flipkart, Jugnoo,
Pumpkart, iScuella, uTrade, Edurev, etc.
Now, to keep up the growth momentum, there is a need to build a strong eco-system for
nurturing innovation and Startups.State Govt. intends to connect all the leading institutes
including ISB, IIT Ropar, IISER, NABI etc. with the large number of entrepreneurs and global
network of venture capital, angel funds and mentors. Time is also ripe for accelerating the state’s
handholding in not only digital/technology sector but also other fields like manufacturing,
healthcare, agriculture, tourism etc.
Realizing the potential, the ‘Startup Program for Innovation, Research and Entrepreneurship’
(SPIRE-Punjab 2016) is being launched.
This document tries to build on the achievements of the past for a better future. It envisions a
mission driven approach in an effort to provide a congenial environment for entrepreneurs with
liberal policies for the overall progress of the state and encouragement ofresearch, innovation
and enterprise.
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2. Definitions
1. Accelerators: Accelerators are programs (entailing seed investments) of durations
ranging from 6 weeks to 12 weeks for accelerating an early stage start up through
intensive and structured mentoring.
2. Angel Investors: Investors who provide early stage seed funding to start-ups or
entrepreneurs. This can be in the form of one-time injection of seed money or
ongoing support to carry the company through commercial operations. Typically, the
Angel Investors invest their own funds into start-ups. The angel investor should be
registered with SEBI or banks or reputed institutions like IITs/IIMs/NITs etc. or DST of
GOP/GOI approved incubation centres.
3. Host Institutes: Host Institutes are reputed Universities, technology, management,
academic and R&D institutes of the State and other institutions and organizations
focusing on entrepreneurial development and promotion by setting up incubators
and accelerators to gel with the start-up eco system in the state.
4. Incubator: Incubator is any organization designed to accelerate the growth and
success of start-ups through an array of business support resources and services like
physical space, capital, mentoring, common services and networking etc.
5. Initial Stage: It is a stage where the start-up has developed a basic product with key
features culminating into the final product.
6. Innovation: Innovation is the process of introducing new technology or making
changes with updated technology, to products, processes, and services that yield new
results.
7. Nodal Institution: Nodal Institution for the implementation of the start-up policy shall
be Punjab Infotech (Punjab Information & Communication Technology Corporation
Limited).
8. Pilot Stage: It is a stage where minimum required capacity system is designed to start
production of the desired product, which can be subsequently enhanced to
commercial production level.
9. Punjab Pollinator: A not-for-profit SPV promoted by Punjab Infotech, registered under
Section-8 of the Companies Act, which will act like the main aggregator of the
network connecting start ups to incubators, accelerators, mentors, academics,
venture capital funds, angel investors and trainers. It will also be the sole owner of
the SPIRE/Pollinator portal.
10. Start Up: An entity that develops a business model based on some innovation and
translates it for commercial success with registered office in Punjab.
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11. Venture Capital Funds: Investment funds that manage money from investors seeking
equity stakes in start-up and small and medium – size enterprises with strong growth
potential.
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3. Vision
To transform Punjab into a vibrant society of global repute with a focus on creating enhanced
entrepreneurial opportunities, better livelihood, employment opportunities and enabling good
governance by promoting innovation, research enterprise through digital transformation.
4. Mission
Our Mission is to:
Develop a world class ‘Enterprise Ecosystem’ in the State pioneering in research and
innovation
Nurture and train new enterprises every year
See 1,000+ successful enterprises every year employing 5,000+ persons
Provide a platform to budding local entrepreneurs to pitch their business ideas to mentors,
investors and financial institutions
Build Pollinator as an umbrella body to integrate various ongoing efforts of different
departments/ institutions of the State to support Startups and young entrepreneurs
5. Objective
The target laid out for SPIRE Punjab to be accomplished by 2021 are:
Develop 10 top class start up hubs and bring in place 3 world class accelerators to support
the efforts
To make available 50,000 sq. ft. incubation space for start ups
Supportive institutional framework for the purpose
Optimum utilisation of institutional infrastructure available in the state
To attract Angel Investment and mobilize Venture Capital of Rs. 1,000 crores, leading to an
investment of Rs. 2,000 crores by Startups in the next 5 years
The focus sectors are Agriculture and Food Processing, Digital Manufacturing, Aerospace and
Defence, Low Carbon Economy, Lifesciences, Healthcare, Education, Tourism, IT & ITeS, Skilling
and any innovative idea/ technology as approved by the State Government.
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6. Proposed Activities
The “SPIRE Punjab, 2016” centers itself on the following pillars, viz.:
I. The Punjab Pollinator Industry-Academia Partnership and Incubation
II. Capacity Building
III. Funding Support and Finance
IV. Regulatory Facilitation
Various activities to be rendered under these pillars are listed in the subsequent sections of this
Policy document:
6.1 Industry-Academia Partnership and Incubation
For all-inclusive growth, Industry and Academia need to walk hand-in-hand. Academic
Institutions act as the breeding grounds for new ideas and by providing necessary support, they
can catapult a simple idea to a new innovation. On the other hand, Industry is aware of the
market challenges and can provide reality checks to the young entrepreneurs and with their
expertise and experience they can help young entrepreneurs mold raw ideas to marketable
products. The State Government intends to bring together the new ideas of the academia and
the expertise of the industry on the same level.
6.1.1. The Punjab Pollinator – Infotech
Start-up Program for Innovation, Research and Entrepreneurship (SPIRE) Mission
Invest Punjab proposed a dedicated program called Start-up Program for Innovation, Research
and Entrepreneurship (SPIRE) for encouragement and promotion of entrepreneurship amongst
youngsters of Punjab. To make the process of starting a Start-up appear simple to the young
aspirants wishful of starting a business, a well-defined Eco-System has been designed.
Pollinator
Industry
Investors
Accelerators
Incubators
Mentors
Academia
Associations
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Under the SPIRE mission, a SPV called Pollinator shall be formed by Punjab Infotech (PSU of
Department of Industries & Commerce, Government of Punjab) and Indian School of Business,
Mohali and EDC Chandigarh as founders. Pollinator shall act as the hub connecting all spokes of
the eco-system with the Government & new Start-ups. The nodal agency for the Pollinator shall
be Punjab Infotech (PSU of Department of Industries & Commerce, Government of Punjab).
Structure of proposed State Startup Mission
Roleof the various stakeholders is briefly given below:
Academia: Leading institutes such as ISB Mohali, IIT Ropar, NABI Mohali, PBTI etc. offers
dedicated infrastructure and mentoring services to nurture Startups. For example: ISB has D-
Labs, a design led incubator, which provides incubation services, large industry network and
advisory services to local Punjab based startups. ISB Hyderabad, has also done a similar tie up
with Govt of Telangana, wherein T-Hub has been launched as a joint initiative.
Industry, as Angel Investors: Key home grown successful industrialists such as Mr. Sunil Kant
Munjal Chairman Hero MotoCorp, Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal Chairman Bharti Airtel, Mr. S.P. Oswal,
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Chairman Vardhman Group, Mr. Rajinder Gupta, Chairman Trident, Mr. K.S. Bhatia, CEO
Pumpkart etc. shall be roped into play a crucial role of angel investors alongwith mentoring of
young companies.
Venture Capitalist/Private Equity Funds/Financial Institutions: VC’s, FI’s and PE funds including
ICICI Bank, Catamaran Ventures, Accel Partners, Softbank, Matrix Partners etc shall be roped to
bring in the additional funds or equity support to enable easy access to finance.
Government: Govt. of Punjab shall earmark Rs. 100 Cr. which further shall be given to the
identified host institutes as one time support for infrastructure augmentation and capacity
building to develop and successfully run the incubators.
6.1.2. Establishment of sector specific incubators
In order to provide impetus to entrepreneurship in the focus sectors for development, State
Government of Punjab would encourage setting up of sector specific incubators. In the initial
stage, these incubators would be set up in the four sectors viz. Digital manufacturing,
Lifesciences (Biotechnology), Agro &Food Processing and Information Technology.
Government of Punjab would encourage setting up of these sector specific incubators in and
around the existing and envisaged industry clusters in the State.
6.1.3. Harnessing existing incubator setup
The State Government will co-operate with Host Institutions of existing Incubators to provide
space to applicants. The Nodal Institution would study the existing models of Incubation/Startup
centres across various locations and develop recommendations on the facilities and shared
infrastructure to be developed.
The State Government will assist existing institutions to set up incubation facilities.
6.1.4. Creation of incubators and accelerators in PPP mode
The State Government would encourage creation of new incubators and accelerators in PPP
mode to leverage the funding support from Government and expertise of the private sector
companies.
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6.1.5. Creation of common infrastructure and co-working spaces
Government of Punjab would facilitate creation of adequate support infrastructure for boosting
innovation ecosystem. Such infrastructure would be created across different sectors in all
districts in Punjab and would comprise of components such as:
Ready-to-use office spaces
R&D and testing labs
Software and hardware solutions
Services such as legal, accounting,HR, IPR, etc.
Facilities such as internet connectivity, electricity, water, security, etc.
6.1.6.Collaboration with Accelerators
Government of Punjab in collaboration with accelerators would institutionalize an accelerator
program to provide mentorship support to early stage Start-ups. This measure would enable the
Start-ups to validate their business idea and prepare for their first round of funding. The program
would be driven by a handpicked panel comprising of members from industry, accelerators,
academia and Government of Punjab. The program would support the Start-ups get access to
mentorship, funding and markets.
6.1.7. Encouraging underserved sections of the society
Under the Policy, Government of Punjab would encourage women, minorities and rural populace
of the State to build awareness and participate in entrepreneurship. For the same, Government
Departments including
Social Security and Development of Women and Children;
Welfare of SCs & BCs;
Rural Development and Panchayats;
Employment Generation and Training;
Technical Education and Industrial Training;
Urban Local Bodies;
Industries and Commerce
would introduce specialized courses in skilling and entrepreneurship development.
6.1.8. Startup Fests
A Startup Event shall be held in the State to highlight and reward success stories from the region
and to provide a platform for Startups to pitch their ideas on a larger stage. Successful
entrepreneurs, top business leaders and subject matter experts, shall be invited to participate
and share tips and ideas with the upcoming entrepreneurs.
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6.2 Capacity Building
In order to develop a self-sustaining and flourishing Startup ecosystem, it is essential to
encourage students to innovate by inculcating a sense of curiosity, reasoning and self-learning.
Thus creating a strong human capital force in the form of innovators and entrepreneurs. The
State Government intends to support young minds with innovative ideas through various
programs and rewards.
6.2.1. Role of Pollinator in Capacity Building
In the present times, ion absence of any common platform, a start-up is usually seen struggling
with finding a suitable physical space to work in, mentors to seek guidance from and angel
investors to seek initial financial support from. In the same way, academic institutes, incubators,
industry and venture capitalists find it difficult to spot the right innovative idea that they can help
nurture and then commercialise. This is the vacuum that Punjab Pollinator seeks to ____. The
pollinator will act as an aggregator and resource base for all the research and development labs,
libraries, incubators offering physical space, mentors, trainers, venture capitalists, angel
investors, financial institutions like SIDBI, ICICI, Yes Bank, etc., and help in the cross fertilization
of ideas. All these pillars will get a common space to derive the best resources from.
6.2.2. College Innovation Hubs
College Innovation hubs shall be set-up in collaboration with established incubators in
professional colleges to promote entrepreneurship amongst students and support innovative
ideas providing initial guidance and hand-holding support. They shall also be provided
information and support regarding available State & Central schemes, incentives and grants.
6.2.3. Innovation Challenge
To identify and promote innovative business solutions to day-to-day problems, a state-wide
business plan competition shall be organized. Students from schools (Class 8 onwards) and
colleges shall be eligible to participate.
6.2.4. Innovation Camps
To promote the spirit of entrepreneurship amongst students, winter and summer camps shall be
held in schools and colleges. The camps shall have speakers including successful Startup
founders, VC/PE founders, and other industry leaders.
6.3. Funding Support and Finance
The Government intends to utilize its corpus fund by supporting setting up of new incubators
and introduction of innovative programs to promote entrepreneurship in the State.
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6.3.1. Startup Fund
The government will create a corpus of 100 Cr. (1 Billion) for entrepreneurs in the nature of Fund
of Funds.The fund will be utilized to support establishment of pilot incubators and capacity
building programmes run by Host Institutes.
6.3.2. Alignment of CSR funds
The CSR funds available to be mobilised for industrial development in the state will also be
aligned to the cause of promoting the startups, to create attractive ambience for startup
operations. SPIRE Punjab will be the nodal agency for linking CSR to the incubation/acceleration
of startups and related institutes in Tier II and Tier III cities as well.
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6.4. Regulatory Facilitation
The Government shall primarily act as a collaborator bringing together all the concerned
stakeholders of the startup ecosystem. The collaboration shall be done online through an
interactive Startup Portal and offline through workshops, meetings and sessions. To further ease
the regulatory burden, Government of Punjab shall allow self-certifications for Startups in-line
with Government of India’s Startup Plan.
6.4.1. The Punjab Pollinator Portal
A portal shall be rolled out by the Government of Punjab which shall provide a single interface to
the Startups to interact closely and effectively with other stakeholders in the ecosystem. The
portal will link up all the incubators within the State and encourage sharing of ideas and
discussion among budding entrepreneurs. The portal shall be supplemented by a mobile app
providing access to information to the Startups on the go. The portal shall be created, hosted
and managed by Punjab Infotech.
6.4.2. Self-Certification
In line with the decisions taken by Govt. of India, the Startup in Punjab would be permitted to file
self-certifications in prescribed formats under the following 7 acts.
The Factories Act 1948
The Maternity Benefit Act 1961
The Shops & Commercial Establishments Act, 1960
The Contract Labour (Regulations & Abolition) Act 1970
The Payment of Wages Act, 1936
The Minimum Wages Act, 1948
The Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959
In addition, self-certification and professional verification as per State Government Rules &
Policies shall be applicable. At present these are:
CTE/CTO under Water Act 1974 and Air Act 1981
The Boilers Act 1923
Chief Electrical Inspection
6.4.3. Assistance in Filling Patent
In collaboration with Punjab State Council for Science and Technology, Government of Punjab
will help in facilitating filling of patents for Startups via the Intellectual Property Rights
Facilitation Cell.
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7. Implementation Structure
It has been envisaged that the Nodal Agency i.e. Punjab POLLINATOR should function in an
autonomous manner. This Nodal Agency shall be a Non Profit Company as per Section-8 of the
Companies Act 2013 and shall be a wholly owned subsidiary of Punjab Infotech with a registered
office in Chandigarh.
The grant of Rs. 100 crores allocated under the Budget for SPIRE program will be placed at the
disposal of Punjab Infotech under the administrative control of the Industries and Commerce
Department. The CEO of the Punjab Bureau of Investment Promotion will be CEO of the
Pollinator and MD, Punjab Infotech will be the Additional CEO.
There shall be Executive Committee which shall be responsible for the Policy Implementation and
to guide the CEO, Punjab Pollinator, in discharging his duties on a regular basis.
The committee would have representation from all relevant incubators/ accelerators, apex
educational institutes, regulatory authorities such as SIDBI, industry bodies such as CII, FICCI,
TiEetc.
The term of each non official member of the executive committee including the Chairman shall
not be more than 5 years.
Meetings: The Executive Committee shall meet at least once a quarter and the proposals
alongwith the policy will be reviewed by the members annually.
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End of Document
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