Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) under Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India launched Next Generation Incubation Scheme (NGIS) “CHUNAUTI 2.0 – Enabling Women Entrepreneurs to Co-Author the Innovation Growth Story of India,” on 6th August 2021. NGIS is STPI’s comprehensive incubation scheme which has a vision to drive the rise of India as a Software Product Nation while making India a global player in development, production and supply of Innovative, Efficient and Secure Software Products thus facilitating the growth across the entire spectrum of ICT sector, as envisioned in the National Policy on Software Products (NPSP) – 2019.
CHUNAUTI – Challenge Hunt Under NGIS for Advanced Uninhibited Technology Intervention – is a series of online Challenges under NGIS. STPI has been strengthening the startup ecosystem, through policies, initiatives, and creation of enabling networks. At present, there is a definite need for a higher percentage of women entrepreneurs in technology which will account for better innovation, increased economic gains and a gender equal society. Accordingly, to achieve a diversified & inclusive startup ecosystem in India, and to recognize and celebrate the technical prowess of women-led startups who are creating cutting-edge technology that are solving some of the biggest problems facing people, our planet, and businesses.
“We are the richest country in the world for unsolved problems. Emerging technologies like Data Analytics, Blockchain, AI, AR & VR have the ability to solve problems. We are witnessing an interesting shift in the Indian IT industry recently. Most of the companies are shifting from services to developing products and software,” cited Shri Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Secretary, MeitY at the launch of CHUNAUTI2.0.
“CHUNAUTI2.0 is dedicated to the women entrepreneurs. After the overwhelming success in the first edition, we have gone further to make tech entrepreneurial ecosystem more gender inclusive. The women entrepreneurs those will be selected through the CHUNAUTI2.0 will be benefitted by the robust collaborative CoE ecosystem that we have created across the country,” emphasized Dr. Omkar Rai, DG, STPI at the launch of CHUNAUTI2.0 as keynote speaker.
“Government has taken several initiatives like Indian Software Product Registry to enable product developing startups to register their software products. Digital Product Development Fund is a notable initiative by the government to create a corpus of Rs. 25,000 crore for funding available for startup funding,” asserted Shri Bhuvnesh Kumar, Joint Secretary, MeitY at the launch.
“CHUNAUTI2.0 can bring in a paradigm shift in the tech entrepreneurial ecosystem by empowering women entrepreneurs to participate in the program and contribute towards tech innovation,” underscored Shri Subodh Sachan, Director, STPI in his welcome address.
“ Entrepreneurship is a lonely journey. Women should believe in themselves and contribute towards tech innovation by building products for India and world,” highlighted Ms. Deepti Dutt, Head Strategic Initiatives, AWS Cloud at the launch of CHUNAUTI2.0.
“We have a very significant number of women as #STEM graduates in India. We have to motivate them to take up entrepreneurship and contribute to the innovation movement. Today, we can see entrepreneurs in Tier-2/3 cities working on tech domains,” expressed Ms. Sucharita Eashwar, Founder & CEO, CWE at the launch of CHUNAUTI2.0.
“As a nation if we have to succeed, women must come forward to contribute to the economy. In India, we have just 5.7% women as startup entrepreneurs, which needs to be scaled up,” underlined Ms. Shradha Sharma, Founder of Your Story.
STPI through CHUNAUTI 2.0 is looking to identify and support promising startups with a special focus on women-led startups working on innovative technology products & solutions in focus sectors like FinTech, HealthTech, EdTech, E-Commerce, SaaS, Environmental technologies, E-governance Solutions, Tourism & Hospitality technologies, AgriTech, Cybersecurity, Assistive Technology and any other tech-aided product/solution which caters to one or more of the domains or focus areas mentioned above.
