What The FAQ: What's all the buzz around National Start-up Day anyway?

January 16 has been declared as National Start-up Day in India. But today is January 17 and if you think we are late to the party, think again. Because entrepreneurship has been the buzzword in the country for some time now and will be for a long time to come, especially after Prime Minister Narendra Modi called start-ups the "backbone" of the country.

Here's why, surely, start-ups deserve a day of their own.

Why this random announcement though?
It is not as random as you think. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India was organising its first-ever Start-up India Innovation Week from January 10 to 16, 2022 as a part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations for India's 75th year of Independence. The event also marked the sixth year of Startup India. At this virtual event on January 15, wherein, many stakeholders were brought together and start-ups had a chance to display their prowess, PM Modi announced January 16 as National Start-up Day.

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What did the PM say while announcing the day for start-ups?
While interacting with 150 start-ups via videoconferencing on January 15 at Innovation Week celebrations, PM Modi made the following comments:
- "It has been decided to celebrate January 16 as National Start-up Day to take the Startup culture to the far flung areas of the country"
- “Three aspects of government efforts: first, to liberate entrepreneurship, innovation from the web of government processes, and bureaucratic silos, second, creating an institutional mechanism to promote innovation; third, handholding of young innovators and young enterprises”
- “Our Start-ups are changing the rules of the game. That's why I believe Start-ups are going to be the backbone of new India.”
- “Last year, 42 unicorns came up in the country. These companies worth thousands of crores of rupees are the hallmark of self-reliant and self-confident India”
- “Today India is rapidly moving towards hitting the century of the unicorns. I believe the golden era of India's start-ups is starting now”
- “Don't just keep your dreams local, make them global. Remember this mantra"

How are the numbers looking when it comes to patents and start-ups in India?
In the year 2013-2014, 4,000 patents were registered and in 2020-2021, the comparative number stands at 28,000. As far as trademarks go, in 2013-14, 70,000 trademarks were registered and more than 2.5 lakh trademarks were registered last year. As per Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2021, released just last month, India has 54 unicorns which makes it the third-largest ecosystem in the world.  

What happened as a part of the first National Start-up Day?
All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell (MIC) observed the National Start-up Day. They highlighted as many as 75 innovative technologies that display start-up potential that will be receiving incubation linkage, guidance, grants and other assistance as required.  

Which start-ups have been highlighted by them?
There are 16 themes and sectorial representations, like clean and potable water, education, sustainable environment, robotics and drones, agriculture and rural development, healthcare and biomedical devices, under which these 75 start-ups fall.
Some of these start-ups include BioMANS (Bio-Based Biodegradable Advance Material) which is working on developing several utility products using agricultural waste, Fenice Technical Solutions incubated at Dr MGR Educational and Research Institute offers solutions that are in the robotics and drone segment, Motion Sensing Glove is a tool focussed at offering assistance to physiotherapists and many others.