CIES of CII to help startups incubated by it USD 100-million companies, says Kris Gopalakrishnan

HYDERABAD: Former CEO of Infosys Kris Gopalakrishnan has said that the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) Centre of Excellence for Innovation Entrepreneurship and Startups will work for making the startups incubated by it become USD 100 million companies.

Addressing a gathering on the occasion of launching of the CIES here on Thursday, Mr Gopalakrishnan, who is the chairman of CIES, said: “CIES has two metrics to measure our success: 1.To see the startups we support become 100M$ revenue companies, 2.Our member companies working with startups and acquiring them.”

Inaugurating the CIES, Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary to Government for IT and Industrial, said: “Eight years ago, the Government of Telangana very consciously decided to make Hyderabad a Startup hub and has taken many concrete steps towards this journey. Government of Telangana has consciously collaborated with external talent to exemplary institutions. As envisaged, the CIES will become a corner stone for the startup movement.”

The CIES is an industry-led initiative that works to increase the odds of entrepreneurial success in India by using its reach and resources to bridge critical gaps such as capacity, resources and linkages, through targeted programmes and interventions.

The CII launched the CIES initiative in 2020 as a corporate-driven resource platform that enables the growth of successful start-ups in India.

The resource platform has translated to a Co-creating, co-innovating workspace, in 2023 with the launch of the CII CIES Centre in Hyderabad (T-Hub) with a 200-seater world class facility with plug-n-play workspaces, ideation labs, workspaces, mentoring and innovation labs, in partnership with Government of Telangana and Pratiksha Trust.

The centre will work with the ecosystem stakeholders to increase their odds of success for Startups, with focus on innovation and entrepreneurship skill sets.

CIES offers targeted programs throughout the year with training and educational programs, incubation and acceleration program for startups, and corporate engagement for innovation and scaleup agenda.

The centre will also work with startups to create, incubate and accelerate within the corporate offices and family office engagements in the long-run.

The launch of the Centre also saw exchange of MOUs for Corporate Accelerator Programmes with Apollo Hospitals, Elico Ltd, Skoda Auto and Vedanta.

The Centre was inaugurated by Mr Jayesh Ranjan here on Thursday.

Chairman, CII CIES Chairman, Axilor Ventures Co-Founder, Infosys Trustee, Pratiksha Trust and other senior industry leaders.

Mr C K Ranganathan, Chairman, CII Startupreneur Awards 2022 & Chairman & Managing Director Cavinkare Pvt Ltd in his address said: “The CIES model will not be about just helping the startups, it will be a win-win partnership, enabling mutual learning for corporates while startups receive right mentorship.”

Suchitra Ella, CII Southern Region & Co-Founder & MD, Bharat Biotech in her address mentioned that “This is the most opportune time to launch CIES, to establish the soft power that India is, around its G20 presidency. This center will establish the imp of creating an ecosystem.”

Shobna Kamineni, Past President, CII and Executive Vice Chairperson, Apollo Hospitals during the MOU exchange mentioned that “Hyderabad has the potential to become number one affordable healthcare destination of the country.”