Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday called for stronger collaboration between startups, academia and industry to create new opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship in the state.
Speaking at India’s first PSU-backed energy innovation platform MC² + Ignite outreach programme organised by IIT Guwahati's Technology Incubation Centre here, the CM said that stronger collaboration was needed to turn ideas into solutions not only for Assam but for the world too.
"A stronger and more collaborative innovation ecosystem in the Northeast is required to drive economic growth and create new opportunities for entrepreneurship and technology-led innovation," he said.
Sarma said deep tech was the new frontier of India's energy transition and expressed confidence that the launch of MC² + Ignite, with IIT Guwahati as the anchor, would help develop solutions to real-world energy and hydrocarbon challenges.
"From our river islands to the depths of our riverbeds, Assam presents immense challenges, and it is our own innovators who are best equipped to build the solutions," he said.
"This is how Assam steps up as an innovation hub, beyond being just an investment destination," he added.
The programme brought together startups, students, entrepreneurs, policymakers, industry leaders and academic institutions to explore ways to strengthen innovation and entrepreneurship in the Northeast.
Sarma also inaugurated the dedicated MC²+ Co-Working Space and Innovation Node at the NRL Centre in Guwahati.
The facility, equipped with more than 50 workstations, 16 cabins and dedicated rooms for investors and technical consultants, is aimed at providing startups with infrastructure, expertise and industry connections to accelerate innovation and growth.
It will also provide a platform for startups in the Northeast to connect their indigenous innovations with the requirements, expertise and capabilities of major public-sector enterprises.
The event saw participation from more than 200 startups, over 1,500 registrations and around 1,000 students, reflecting growing interest in the startup ecosystem among young innovators and entrepreneurs.
MC² Foundation is conceived under the aegis of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoPNG) to create a dedicated national platform for taking indigenous energy technologies from the laboratory to the field.
Backed by a consortium of Oil & Gas CPSEs (Central Public Sector Enterprises) comprising ONGC, Oil India Limited, Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, GAIL and Petronet LNG, MC² has a committed corpus of Rs 455 crore over five years.
MC² seeks to bridge the gap between technology innovation and commercial deployment by providing an integrated pathway covering discovery through national Grand Challenges, milestone-linked grant funding, co-development with academic and CPSE research centres, field pilots within live PSU installations, regulatory support through a sector sandbox and a defined procurement pathway into CPSE demand.