It also recognised the State as an institutional leader, a regulatory champion, a procurement leader, an incubation hub, seeding innovation leader and scaling innovations leader. The recognition for the State was based on seven metrics – institutional support, simplifying regulations, easing public procurement, incubation support, seed funding support, venture funding support, and awareness outreach – in terms of development of a startup ecosystem. However scores of 100% and 16% in venture funding support and incubation support on either ends of the spectrum turned out to be surprising. KSUM sources said that the low score in terms of incubation support concealed more than it revealed in that the thrust was on physical infrastructure developed by the government and government agencies. “Kerala follows a decentralised incubation support mechanism with the focus on extending incubation support, including in the virtual space, rather than developing physical infrastructure involving huge capital expenditure, sources said.

Source: The Hindu September 11, 2020 13:52 UTC