UoH-ASPIRE, a section 8 company at University of Hyderabad (UoH) celebrated its Fifth Foundation Day on 7th March 2023. ASPIRE, is an umbrella organization that handles all the innovation and incubation activities at UoH. Since its establishment in 2018, ASPIRE has supported more than 85 start-ups in various fields of Life sciences, Pharma & Chemistry and IT & Electronics, through its 3-incubation centres ASPIRE-BioNEST, ASPIRE-TBI & ASPIRE-TIDE.
Dr. V. K. Saraswat, Member, NITI Aayog delivered the foundation day lecture, “India’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship Ecosystem”. In his speech, he emphasized the need on creating nurturing platforms like ASPIRE at academic institutions to encourage the translational outcome. He noted that India’s innovation ecosystem has seen significant progress in recent years, and there is a need to continue to foster and nurture this ecosystem to maintain its momentum. He also stressed the importance of creating an environment that is conducive to innovation and entrepreneurship, which includes providing access to funding, mentorship, and other resources.
He emphasized the need of disruptive technologies and the upcoming 6th wave of innovation to cater the needs of the nation. In conclusion, Dr. Saraswat’s he suggested the need of collective efforts by start-ups and ecosystem enablers in developing product based deep tech innovations for India to emerge as a super power. He also visited and interacted with the start-ups supported by ASPIRE incubation centres.
Lauding the efforts of ASPIRE in nurturing the entrepreneurial ecosystem in and around the university campus, Vice-chancellor, Prof. B. J. Rao has mentioned that ASPIRE has set a benchmark for academic institutes in nurturing entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Heads of various research organizations, prominent people from pharma & biotech industry, members of UoH start-up community and students from various educational institutes have participated in the event.