Startup Village To Ink MoU With Aalto University

New Delhi, Aug 22: India's first telecom incubator Startup Village, which is on a mission to groom billion-dollar ventures from campuses, and Finland's Aalto Centre for Entrepreneurship (ACE), the world-class hi-tech hub noted for churning out game-changing products like Angry Birds, are joining hands to drive the future innovations as part of the ongoing bilateral technological initiative.

Kerala-based Startup Village will formally sign a Memorandum of Understanding on September 6 in Finland with Aalto University, under which ACE works, to maximize exposure to cutting edge product technologies to Indian start-ups, drive innovative ties, and pave the way for future industry collaborations.

The MoU will be signed by Mr Sanjay Vijayakumar, chairperson of the Governing Board of Startup Village, and MoU with ACE authorities in Helsinki as part of the technology collaboration between India and Finland. He will be visiting Finland as part of a high-level delegation, under the aegis of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.

In the run-up to formalizing the collaboration that would open new vistas of opportunity to the aspiring companies in the Kochi-based incubator, Mr. Riku Makela, Director, FinNode India Counsellor (Innovation), Embassy of Finland, New Delhi, will visit Startup Village here tomorrow (Thursday) and meet its management team.

While Finland, home to market leaders like Nokia, is noted for its technology prowess, India has a rich potential for frugal innovations. Both together can produce the best future solutions for the developing as well as the developed world. Both the countries are strong in telecom-based technologies,'' said Mr Vijayakumar.

Apart from taking the Finnish technology to Indian markets and forging collaborations between the industries, the MoU will give an opportunity to work with App Campus, the 24-million-dollar mobile application programme set up together by Nokia and Microsoft. We are also looking at expansion of the programme by bringing it to Startup Village during this year,'' he said.

Mr. Vijayakumar will also hold discussions with Pekka Sivonen, who is the Head of App Campus, to explore more areas of cooperation between the two sides. Mr Sivonen is known as one of the most successful IT-entrepreneurs in Finland and founder of a company called Digia.

Mr Sijo Kuruvilla, CEO of Startup Village, said, "ACE has been rated as one of the most vibrant hubs for start-ups. Rovio Entertainment, the creators of video game Angry Birds, took birth as a student startup at Aalto University. Finland is also known for its product technologies. It comes as a big boost to our aspiration to nurture billion-dollar venture from Indian campuses. The tie-up will open up a slew of opportunities in the form of mutually beneficial technological collaborations and funding."
"In addition, our young entrepreneurs here will have a chance to be mentored by world-class leaders,'' he added.

The Indian delegation will be headed by Mr. H K Mittal, Advisor and Head of the National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB) under the Department of Science and Technology and Secretary, Technology Development Board.

The delegation will visit Finland from September 4 to 8th as part of the bilateral collaboration to promote innovation ties. This is a follow-up to the creation of Indo-Finnish Joint Working Group and ministerial visits that took place last year.

For further details on Startup Village, visit: www.startupvillage.in

Source : Press Release