Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
Aimed at implementing entrepreneurial education in colleges, and vocational education in schools and ITIs
To be achieved through an integrated approach to entrepreneurship, innovation and skill development in the State
WOF to build one-stop technology platform with a focus to educate high school and ITI students on skilling and college students on entrepreneurship, to train and connect mentors and investors to local entrepreneurs and to develop and disseminate best practices on incubators and accelerators
State of Rajasthan (SoR) and Wadhwani Operating Foundation have announced a strategic partnership which aims at making Rajasthan a Smart State through Job Creation and Talent Development. Dr. Ajay Kela, President, and CEO, Wadhwani Operating Foundation exchanged the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Shri Rajat Kumar Mishra, Secretary, Department of Skills, Employment and Entrepreneurship in the presence of Hon’ble Chief Minister of Rajasthan Smt. Vasundhara Raje. This initiative would also support the Make in India, Startup India, Skill India, Digital India and other Initiatives of Government of India.
Focus areas of this collaboration include making Entrepreneurship Education ubiquitous in Rajasthan colleges, developing city based Startup and SME ecosystems, establishing a Startup and Small Business Innovation (SSBI) initiative to fund innovation challenge grants, vocationlization of high schools, transformation of ITIs to Modern Manufacturing Training Hubs and Multi-Skill Institutes and employer engagement for education, internship and apprenticeship. These will be supported by Central Core Technology Platform to achieve the desired quality and scale.
Expressing optimism on signing of this MoU, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Rajasthan Smt. Vasundhara Raje said, “Development of entrepreneurship in the State with international standard models, is one of the Government’s priorities. I hope that Wadhwani Operating Foundation and like-minded organizations will spur entrepreneurship development in each and every district of the State and the Government will fully support this.”
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Ajay Kela, President & CEO, Wadhwani Operating Foundation said “Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Ajay Kela, President & CEO, Wadhwani Operating Foundation said “Rajasthan’s Smart State initiative will focus on job creation and job fulfillment through building and supporting the full life-cycle of the entrepreneurship, Skills and innovation ecosystems. The strategy is to build city-based ecosystems that include upgraded skills training through transformation of ITIs, entrepreneurship education in colleges, local mentor and investor networks and policy framework to support growth Start-ups and growth SME’s. I hope that this collaboration between Rajasthan Government and Wadhwani Operating Foundation will spur high-quality job creation in the State.”
Policy Research Center (PRC) provides data-driven research inputs for informed policy action towards accelerating economic growth. PRC has assessed the performance of two of India’s most comprehensive and largest programs initiated by the Department of Biotechnology and administered by Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) – SBIRI and BIPP. The assessment led to evidence-based recommendations for policymakers to improve impact and scale of innovation programs in small- and medium-scale industries. The Foundation envisions creating partnerships with various central government organizations to initiate innovation grants to 25,000 companies over five years as part of the SSBI Initiative.