Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) has decided in principle to set up Centres of Excellence (CoE) at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) and Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone (AMTZ).
STPI is an autonomous society established by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) to promote export of software from the country.
STPI-Vizag joint director M.P. Dubey told The Hindu that the centre at the VSP would specialise in Industry 4.0 to encourage cutting-edge technologies.
The AMTZ, the premier medical devices manufacturing park coming up in the city, was chosen for setting up a CoE on healthtech.
When asked when they would come up, he said that they were in the process of finalisation of the modalities to operate the two CoEs.
MeitY has already approved CoEs in innovation and other emerging areas at Indian Institute of Management-Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh Innovation Society (APIS), Rushikonda and Bhagavatula Charitable Trust, Haripuram.
Another CoE has also been approved at AMTZ on meditech to encourage production development and validation.
Stating that Visakhapatnam emerged as the leading player in attracting BPO companies under India BPO Promotion Scheme launched by STPI to encourage employment generation in tier-two cities, Mr. Dubey said 56 companies were setting up their facilities in and around the city.
Job creation
They have already created 10,000 jobs, he said adding this year they were expecting employment generation for as many as 35,000 local youth. He said the major employers include Conduent, Federal Bank, Omics, WNS, and Patra India.
Flow of investment
Mr. Dubey further said that the city had an excellent startup and innovation ecosystem and the COVID-19 pandemic notwithstanding, they were expecting a big flow of investment in IT and IT enabled services (ITES) in and around Visakhapatnam.
He said STPI registered companies pan India had registered a turnover of ₹4.21 lakh crore in 2019-20 as against ₹52 crore in 1992-93.
He said that the STPI which celebrated its 29th anniversary recently came in for praise by its Director General Omkar Rai for its contribution in boosting exports from India.
