The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh visited Venture Center (VC), the national award-winning business incubator hosted by CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, on 20 Aug 2022 to meet leading science-based startups of Pune city and to inaugurate a Startup Showcase meant as a mixer for mentors and mentee startups. During his visit Dr Jitendra Singh interacted with start-ups - across domains of healthcare, energy, environment, automation and digitization- incubated at Venture Center. After attending the Start-up Showcase, Dr Jitendra Singh was pleased to note that:

1) Several start-ups incubated at Venture Center have developed technology platforms that can be put to use for many applications.

2) Venture Center incubatee startups:

• Reported revenues in excess of Rs 377 Cr during the financial year 2021-22.
• Raised funding in excess of Rs 97 Cr during the financial year 2021-22.

3) The incubatee companies created more than 1000 jobs during the year most of which were science and technology related jobs.

4) 33 unique patent families were filed by incubatee companies during FY 2021-22 alone and many first-in-India/ world technologies were developed.

5) Venture Center start-ups have delivered phenomenal impact through their useful products and services, wealth creation for India, job creation, attracting resources to innovation and research while contributing to an inclusive ecosystem.

6) Dr V Premnath, Director of Venture Center, spoke about the coming of age of science based deep tech startups in India and the immense potential they hold to contribute to the society and the economy through drugs, vaccines, diagnostics, medical devices, agriculture inputs and grains, nutrition products and ingredients, energy generation/ storage/ distribution solutions, sustainable chemicals/ materials/ fuels, industrial automation/ IOT etc.

7) Dr Premnath said that the startups are able to spot an opportunity early, work on seemingly small ideas and rapidly grow them into large enterprises.

8) On this occasion, the Venture Center and its startups also showcased their efforts during COVID-19 in a wide array of technology led interventions.

Dr Jitendra Singh visited Venture Center (VC), the national award-winning business incubator hosted by CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune