Speech by Dr. (Smt.) J Geeta Reddy, Hon'ble Minister For Major Industries, Tourism, Sugar, Commerce & Export Promotion, Government of Andhra Pradesh

Mr. Mohsen A Khalil, Director, GICT - World Bank Group

Mr. N Srinivasan, Vice President, FICCI

Mr. V S Rama Murthy, Former Secretary, Dept. of Science & Technology, Govt. of India

Mr. H K Mittal, Member Secretary, NSTEDB

Representatives of the Government, Private, academic and Not- for- Profit sectors from all over the world,

Members from media

Ladies & Gentlemen,

I am very happy to welcome you all to Hyderabad, which is known as the "CITY OF PEARLS", for this "2nd Global forum on Business Incubation : Empowering Economies through ICT, Innovation and Entrepreneurship".

I congratulate World Bank, Dept. of Science and Technology, Govt. of India & FICCI for organizing this activity which has a great significance.

As you all are aware, Andhra Pradesh has been making rapid strides in the industrial front. The State under the visionary leadership of Hon'ble Chief Minister Dr. Y S Rajasekhara Reddy has been creating conducive atmosphere for attractive investment into Andhra Pradesh.

The State has been witnessing all-round development in all sectors like industry, agriculture, rural development, tourism etc.

In recent times, advances in sunrise areas like Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Biotechnology , Nano Materials etc., have propelled exponential growth of hi-tech enterprises. To keep pace with paradigm shift in the economy, the Technology Business Incubators (TBI) has emerged as a powerful tool for nurturing technology and knowledge based enterprise and generation of value added employment.

Keeping in view the importance of these incubators, which would nurture new ventures by providing specialized guidance, critical support services, innovative financing and networking support within a well -equipped workforce, the Government of Andhra Pradesh has taken very much interest to develop these incubators in the State of Andhra Pradesh.

The Government of Andhra Pradesh in association with Indian School of Business has taken up for establishment of Business Incubator for development of entrepreneurs in the State. This incubator aims to create entrepreneurs from the student community and to promote entrepreneurship through a wide spectrum of activities like Mentoring, Academic Institutional Movement for entrepreneurship, Teaching Training, Enterprise-partnering and Research.

Apart form this, the Government of Andhra Pradesh in Association with ICICI Bank Limited has established an international knowledge park in Hyderabad to facilitate business-driven Research & Development.

ICICI Knowledge Park (IKP) nestles in a 200-acre pollution free zone in Genome Valley, Hyderabad. The master plan of the Park mirrors its objective of nurturing an environment for innovation and the expected growth in life sciences and related fields. It has a mix of ready-to-use multi - tenanted modular wet laboratory blocks (Innovation Corridors) with in- built flexibility around some common, shared facilities and support services, as well as developed land for customized R&D facilities.

I am sure this event would provide a comprehensive training package focusing on crucial elements vital for a successful incubator programme for the participating countries.

Before I conclude, I appeal the Infodev and Department of Science & Technology to help the Small and Medium Enterprises in Andhra Pradesh in furthering their Research & Development activities and meet the growing needs thereby reach the international standards.

I take this opportunity to once again thank the organizers for taking the initiative of organizing this wonderful programme in Andhra Pradesh.

I wish all of you all the best.

Jai Hind