STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (IIIM) Jammu concluded the National Startup Festival, showcasing remarkable success stories in startup promotion, innovation and entrepreneurial growth across Jammu & Kashmir. The two-day festival, which concluded on Sunday, was inaugurated yesterday by the Chief Guest, Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences; Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy, and Department of Space; and Vice President of CSIR in presence of Satish Sharma, J&K UT Cabinet Minister for Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs, Transport, Science & Technology, Information Technology, Youth Services & Sports, and ARI & training departments, Padma Shri Prof. Vinod K. Singh, Chairperson, Recruitment & Assessment Board (RAB), CSIR and Institute Chair Professor of Chemistry at IIT Kanpur, Dr. Zabeer Ahmed, Director, CSIR-IIIM, Dr. Prabodh Kumar Trivedi, Director, CSIR-CIMAP, Lucknow, Dr. Ajit Kumar Shasany, Director CSIR-NBRI, Lucknow, Dr. Sudesh Kumar Yadav, Director, CSIR-IHBT, Palampur, Dr. Jatinder Kumar, Managing Director, DBT-BIRAC and Dr. N. Zaheer Ahmed, Director General, CCRUM. Recognizing the innovative works of the startup they showcased during the event, Dr. Zabeer Ahmed, Director, CSIR-IIIM awarded the certificates to 45 startups.
The two days mega event held at Government Women College, Gandhi Nagar which on day 2 also attracted huge crowd of students drawn from various degree colleges and schools of Jammu region to provide a platform to the entrepreneurs, investors, industry leaders, scientists, researchers, bio-incubators, manufacturers, regulators and members of civil society to witness the technologies and innovation showcased during the festival.
In a press handout, it was stated that an overwhelming response of visitors has been seen today as well, more than 800 visitors visited the exhibition and witnessed the demonstration of innovations driven ideas some startups and the products and technologies developed by few of them.
Dr. Zabeer Ahmed, Director, CSIR-IIIM who is spearheading the institute’s resolute to nurture the startup ecosystem in the region, while addressing the startup and exhibitors during closing ceremony said that besides the institute’s forte in the pre-clinical drug discovery, under the mentoring of Union Minister of S&T and Vice President, Dr. Jitendra Singh, IIIM has equally galvanised agri- entrepreneurship and set up two incubators for incubation support to the startup. To set up a new Incubator at Industrial Biotech Park, Ghatti, Kathua, the Grant-in-aid Letter Agreement (GLA) was also signed yesterday by Director, CSIR-IIIM and MD, BIRAC in the presence of the Union Minister, Dr. Jitendra Singh, he added.
A spokesperson informed that a total of 45 StartUps participated from all over India. Students from various Government Degree Colleges of Jammu district also actively participated in the event.
Some of the prominent StartUps those took part in the Expo were- M/s Herbal Aura, M/s Gaurico, M/s One Veda, M/s Happico, M/s Gleen Biotech, M/s Himalayan Essential Oils Producer Company Ltd., M/s JK Aroma Ltd. Samast Eco Alternatives Pvt. Ltd. M/s SRANAS POC Pvt Ltd M/s Chenab Valley Zaitoon Tel ltd M/s Katyani Metal works and the farmers led by Dr. Hygina from Meghalaya. The stalls were also put by young innovators of Jammu district school. The event was organised under the overall supervision of Dr. Zabeer Ahmed, Director CSIR-IIIM, assisted by his team of HoDs and Scientists, including Er. Abdul Rahim, Dr. Asha Chaubey, Dr. Dhiraj Vyas, Dr. Shashank Singh, Dr. Sumit Gandhi, Dr. Naveed Qazi, Dr. Suphla Gupta, Dr. Saurabh Saran, Dr. Raj Kishore, Vikram Singh, Sr. COA, Ajay Kumar, CoFA, Dilip Gehlot, SPO and Rajesh Gupta, AO.