A centre for innovation, entrepreneurship and startups of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) set up with the support of Telangana government, by way of space at T-Hub here, and Pratiksha, a charitable trust founded by Infosys co-founder S. Gopalakrishnan, was launched on Saturday.

Industries and IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao, launching the facility, said the CII Centre for Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Startups is a pioneering initiative of the industry body and a testimony of an enabling ecosystem in Telangana.

A CII statement quoted the Minister as saying that the facility will provide the right mix of entrepreneurial elements — mentorship, access to capital and safety net for experimentation. It will do wonders for strengthening the startup ecosystem in not just Telangana but across India, he said.

Describing it as “significant and timely”, Industries and IT Secretary Jayesh Ranjan said the centre is a very big leap forward for harnessing new technology and business opportunities along with knowledge creation. He assured Telangana government’s support for the centre to flourish.

Mr.Gopalakrishnan, who is chairman of CII National Startup Council and also of Axilor Ventures, said the focus of the facility would be to connect CII members with the startups through mutually beneficial partnerships. It will spur research translation from lab to market, generate society-ready innovation, foster innovation for societal problems, explore new business models for farming, encourage funding for the entire value chain from proof of concept to business models, he added.

The centre would provide thought leadership, shared knowledge, policy suggestions, hand holding to startsups and student entrepreneurs.

He mentioned that the centre will offer landing pad and enable connections of Indian startups with those from other nations thus helping to complement and strengthen each other’s entrepreneurship ecosystems.

CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said as there is a need to create unicorns in the technology sector, the CII centre would focus on deep tech startups in manufacturing sector. It will bring startups to work together with the large business houses and corporates through CII network, on the lines of the very successful model of Silicon Valley.