Tamil Nadu IT Minister calls for collaboration among southern States to boost start-up ecosystem

Tamil Nadu IT Minister Mano Thangaraj addressing the valedictory session of Huddle Global 2022 at Kovalam in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday.

Southern States should collaborate to support innovations by youth for reinforcing the region’s start-up ecosystem, Tamil Nadu Information Technology Minister Mano Thangaraj has said.

Mr. Thangaraj was speaking on Friday on ‘States Collaboration for Expanding Start-up Support’ at the valedictory session of Huddle Global 2022 conclave organised by the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM).

Mr. Thangaraj also suggested setting up a common pavilion for Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala at global start-up exhibitions like GITEX, a statement said.

Building meaningful partnerships between State-level start-up missions would help the States bridge skill gaps, he said. As part of expanding collaboration among the States, student partnerships could be formed by organising hackathons as part of exchange programmes, Mr. Thangaraj said.

Rathan U. Kelkar, Secretary (Electronics and IT), Government of Kerala, and Sivarajah Ramanathan, Mission Director and CEO, Tamil Nadu Startup and Innovation Mission, also spoke.