The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), Mumbai, and the Centre for Entrepreneurship Development and Incubation (CEDI), National Institute of Technology – Tiruchi (NIT-T) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Saturday to launch ‘JewelStart’, a joint venture designed to accelerate the start-up revolution in the gem and jewellery industry.According to an official release, the MoU was signed by H. Siddhartha, chief operating officer, GJEPC, and Surya Narayanan, Southern Regional Director, GJEPC. and CEDI-NIT-T director M. Umapathy and CEO K. Susil Kumar.As part of the collaboration, JewelStart, a dedicated gem and jewellery incubation hub will be established at NIT Tiruchi to support innovation, entrepreneurship, and technology-driven growth in the gem and jewellery sector.The JewelStart initiative aims at providing end-to-end support for start-ups and will enable entrepreneurs, innovators, students, researchers, and industry professionals to transform promising ideas into successful ventures, said the release.P.V. Kannan, advisor and managing director, Micromax Systems, Tiruchi, and Kanagaraj, proprietor, Jai Industries, were among the special invitees at the ceremony.On June 12, the Madurai-based Software Industry Development Association (SIDA), dedicated to boost the growth of the IT and technology ecosystem in southern Tamil Nadu, signed an MoU with CEDI-NIT-T aimed at fostering innovation, entrepreneurship, skill development, and industry-academia collaboration between the two organisations.The two organisations would work to promote technology-driven entrepreneurship, facilitate knowledge exchange, support startup incubation initiatives, through the MoU, according to an official press release. Published - June 13, 2026 06:28 pm IST