MillenniumPost
Bengal

'Encouraging start-ups for social good'

Kolkata: The state Information Technology and Electronics (IT&E) department is adopting a two-pronged strategy in encouraging start-ups in the state.

"We are encouraging start-ups for social good and at the same time inviting start ups in the sphere of emerging technologies like Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics etc. This is where we want Italian incubators and start-ups for collaborating with us," said Debashis Sen, Additional Chief Secretary IT & E while addressing an interactive session titled "Steering Successful Indo Italian Business Partnership in MSME and Start-Up space" organised by a business chamber on Saturday.

The state IT department is coming up with a city for Analytics on a 50 acre land in Kalyani, named "Samriddhi".

At the event, Bengal's homegrown frozen dessert brand Milkberry from Rainbow Dairy Food Products (RDFP) signed an MOU with a top connecting company Bizdev based in Italy for rolling out interesting and innovative brands and flavours.

"Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited Milan a month ago and some leading Italian companies are going to turn up at the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) scheduled in February 2019.

"We are hopeful of a fruitful business partnership in the days to come. The tie-up today (Saturday) is the first example of the way in which Italy can help local companies in the state with equipment and technological support," said Jean-Claude Morel, founder and managing partner of Bizdev.

The Italian connecting company is already in talks with two leading firms in their country for identifying a suitable partner for Milkberry.

It may be mentioned that Italy gelato (ice cream) is known for its variety and taste across the world. "IT&E, Food & Food Processing and leather are some of the important sectors in which Bengal and Italy can forge a partnership," Morel added.

"We have started our company in Bengal five years back. Now, we are focusing on scaling up, adding more flavours, improved packaging and expanding our reach. So we have joined hands with Bizdev," said Siddhartha Sankar Ghosh, managing partner, RDFP.

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