00:00We are here today for this two-day conclave for RISE, as was being mentioned, that RISE stands for Research,
00:07Industry, Start-Up Intermediationship.
00:10This idea was promoted about three years back.
00:14We thought we could have such start-up conclaves considering the kind of start-up movement that has happened in
00:20India,
00:20particularly after Prime Minister Rajinder Modi ji announced it from the ramparts of head court, I think that was 15th
00:28of August 2015.
00:29When he said start-up India, start-up India, we were just about 350 start-ups in this country.
00:35Today we stand at about 240,000 and we rank number 3 globally.
00:40So you can understand what a quantum jump it has been, which means it has picked up in a big
00:45way
00:45and thanks to the push being given by Prime Minister Modi ji.
00:51And at the same time, it has also given our youngsters an alternative option, an alternative avenue of livelihood.
01:00It is important to mention over here that out of the 2,40,000 that I am mentioning,
01:05almost 50% or more belong to tier 2 and tier 3 cities.
01:10So we also have to give up this mindset that the start-up is happening only in big cities and
01:15better.
01:15So in order to address these section of youngsters who are looking forward, a lot of aspirations,
01:23we are starting to have this campaign of holding these conclaves in different parts of the country.
01:28We have already had six such North, South, East, West, Northeast.
01:33Incidentally, we did not have the opportunity to come to Kolkata.
01:37I am glad after the change of the government, we found a very cooperative milieu over here.
01:42And today we are here.
01:44Secondly, the responsibility of organizing these conclaves is undertaken by CSIR.
01:53As she mentioned, the Council of Society of Industry Research.
01:56Incidentally, Kolkata has four such institutes.
01:58But the showcasing is done by all the institutes in the region.
02:04So you have IIT, Durgapur.
02:06You have NIT.
02:07You have IICR.
02:08You have all the other.
02:09You have university also.
02:11So start-ups in different domains from different institutions coming here.
02:14The idea is to provide them a single platform where start-ups, industry leaders, business leaders,
02:21researchers, innovators sit on the same table under the same roof.
02:27That gives an opportunity to start-up, to the start-ups to find their potential mentors
02:32or the potential entrepreneurs who can take over their innovations and carry to the market.
02:40And at the same time, it also gives the industry leaders and the business leaders to find out
02:45the potential start-ups or the projects happening which they can put to their advantage.
02:50And therefore, because we believe that from today onwards and from now onwards,
02:56as India has started assuming a global role and a global visibility, we need to move together.
