Gujarat-based incubation centre iCreate enrolls first batch of Israeli start-ups to bring entrepreneurs together

Gujarat-based start-up incubation centre iCreate and Israel's incubator Start-Up Nation Central (SNC) on Monday announced the commencement of its India-Israel Innovation Accelerator programme. Under this programme, six top start-ups from Israel were enrolled as a part of the MoU signed between the two nations in September 2020.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed for starting a programme to bring together Israeli and Indian entrepreneurs as well as start-ups to collaborate on innovative projects, said a release by iCreate (International Centre for Technology and Entrepreneurship), an autonomous centre of excellence of the Government of Gujarat. On the occasion, Dr Ron Malka, Israeli Ambassador to India, said the programme is in line with the vision of the prime ministers of both countries.

Malka and other dignitaries joined the launch ceremony through video conferencing. "We will give solutions to India, Israel and to the world. We are supporting the vision of both the countries, and of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of Make in India - for India and for the world. It is very important for India to export, because India wants to become, and it will become a USD 5 trillion economy and we need to focus on export," he said.

According to him, Israel has the most startups per capita worldwide, and India is the top innovation destination in Asia. "Together, the countries continue to form partnerships and collaborations to strengthen both countries, make us more independent, and at the same time solve a range of global issues" he said. Sanjeev Singla, Indian Ambassador to Israel, said both the countries have been trying to deepen their strategic partnership through, among other things, forging organic innovation linkages.

"The SNC and iCreate venture is one such example. One interesting feature of this collaboration is the strong emphasis on tight timelines and it is owing to this focus that the first accelerator is being inaugurated five months after the signing of the MoU between SNC and iCreate," he said.