Vikranth Raja, centre, Secretary to Government and Director, Department of Industries and Commerce, Government of Puducherry, launching the logo of Puduvai Industry Innovation challenge.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
The Puduvai Industry Innovation Challenge, a programme aimed at linking startups with problem statements from local industries, was launched at Startup Rendezvous 2026, the annual founders’ meet of the Atal Incubation Centre–PEC Foundation (AIC-PECF), held here recently.Launching the initiative, A. Vikranth Raja, Secretary to Government and Director of Industries and Commerce, Government of Puducherry, said youth should be encouraged to pursue entrepreneurship. Startups, he said, must attach as much importance to market access and brand-building as they do to innovation.He said the government had announced in the 2026-27 Budget that a committee had been formed to draft a new Industrial and Startup Policy, with a focus on frontier technologies and sunrise sectors.In an open house session, the Secretary heard the operational and regulatory difficulties raised by entrepreneurs and business owners and said these would be addressed through a progressive startup policy and targeted interventions.Vishnu Varadan, Chief Executive Officer, Atal Incubation Centre - PEC Foundation said the programme would follow a four-stage process and cover seven innovation verticals: Industry 5.0, Internet of Things, robotics, enterprise AI, augmented and virtual reality, digital twins, and digitalisation.The selected teams will receive six months of incubation and product-development support at AIC-PECF, after which their solutions will be piloted with the concerned industry. The outcome of this programme is not a certificate but the first purchase order of the startup, he said.M. Nadarajan, Chairman, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Puducherry also spoke. Published - September 02, 2026 07:31 pm IST
