Hyderabad gets another incubation center

Kishore Kumar

HYDERABAD: The thrust may be on creating incubation facilities in cities like Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Warangal and Kakinada. While Andhra Pradesh is exploring newer locations, the Software Technology Park of India (STPI) is in no mood to restrict the incubation model to Tier II and Tier III locations.

STPI Hyderabad is setting up a 200, 000 sq.ft space adjacent to Cyber Towers in the city. More than one-third of the space will be utilized to construct another incubation center.

Revealing this to CyberMedia News, E Manoj Kumar, director, STPI, Hyderabad said that the center would be completed in 12-18 months.

The new incubation center would prefer new companies working on niche areas like product development and design though STPI is not averse give occupancy to services or BPO companies.

``The idea is to encourage new players who are struggling to find a right kind of ambience to start their business plans. We would prefer product development and design companies. These are the companies who initially don’t have much of the financial strength,’’ said Kumar.

Kumar added that the center would not totally keep other companies at bay. We don’t mind giving chance to very good prospective companies so that we don’t miss out on any potential,’’ added Kumar.

Work for the incubation center was commenced recently. STPI is constructing the center in a private– public partnership. Divyashree Builders has been given the contract to construct the incubation center.

Kumar informed that STPI would work on a clear road map to create the guidelines for the center. ``What we need is a guideline which fits into the current scenario.’’

Kakinada STPI taking shape

Meanwhile STPI Kakinada is taking shape with two more companies showing interest to incubate from the center. One of the two companies, holding talks with STPI is in the embedded space.

Infotech Enterprises, with a team of 100-120 professionals, was the first company to start its operation in Kakinada. Two others besides Infotech have also been included in STPI Kakinada. ``We are already in the process of the next of phase of expansion,’’ said Kumar.

Kumar said that the STPI is trying to attract anchor companies to start their operations in Tier II and Tier III cities. ``Most of the anchor companies are either existing players in Hyderabad or they are the subsidiaries of some parents who know the geography better. We know for all good reasons they are the people who get convinced easily,’’ said Kumar.

© CyberMedia News