Cyient Foundation and AICTE sign MoU to build innovation cluster in Visakhapatnam

The Hindu

3 days ago

Cyient Foundation, the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm of Cyient Limited, and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish an innovation cluster in Visakhapatnam. The MoU was signed in the presence of Minister for Human Resources Development, IT, Electronics and Communication Nara Lokesh, here on Wednesday.
The partnership is aimed at strengthening the regional innovation ecosystem by empowering educational institutions to become epicentres of innovation, entrepreneurship, and intellectual property creation.
Under the MoU, the pilot programme will focus on transforming higher education institutions in and around Visakhapatnam into vibrant hubs of innovation by fostering collaboration between academia, industry, startups, and investors. The initiative will deploy a structured ecosystem comprising iCARE (Innovation Creation and Research for Entrepreneurship) centres, iCAFE (Idea Creation and Auxiliary Facilities for Entrepreneurship) centres, and IPR-TT (Intellectual Property Rights and Technology Transfer) cells across mentor and mentee institutions.
The MoU envisions a three-year roadmap, with Cyient Foundation providing CSR grant support and infrastructure for the initiative.
Speaking on the occasion, founder-chairman of Cyient and chief patron of Cyient Foundation, B.V.R. Mohan Reddy said, 'The partnership with AICTE is a significant step towards realising India's potential as a global innovation powerhouse. By nurturing entrepreneurial mindsets and building institutional capacities, we are creating a self-sustaining model that empowers youth, encourages IP creation, and promotes meaningful collaboration between academia and industry.'
The collaboration will also include boot camps, innovation fairs, hackathons, and mentoring programmes — all designed to equip students and faculty with the skills and resources necessary for real-world innovation and start-up development.
AICTE Vice-Chairman Abhay Jere said that the partnership with Cyient Foundation exemplifies the kind of industry-academia collaboration that can transform the way educational institutions contribute to India's innovation economy. 'By strategically leveraging the collective strengths of educational institutions, industry, and the creative youth talent, these innovation clusters aim to generate a broad and lasting impact on regional innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic growth,' he said, adding that the innovation cluster in Visakhapatnam will serve as a model for future clusters across the nation.
AICTE and the Ministry of Education's Innovation Cell implement a variety of national-level initiatives, such as organising the Smart India Hackathon, the world's largest open innovation model, and establishing Institution's Innovation Councils (IICs) in more than 15,700 higher education institutions (HEIs) across India.
In Andhra Pradesh alone, over 1,137 IICs have been established in both technical and non-technical institutions, actively driving campus innovation ecosystems. Cities like Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, Tirupati, Kakinada, Nellore, and Anantapur have a high concentration of these institutions, giving them substantial potential to develop into city-level innovation clusters.