New Delhi, July 20 (KNN) India’s first largest startup incubation centre has been launched in city of Hubballi, Karnataka to promote entrepreneurship. Built by Sandbox Startups, the centre has a built up area of 100,000 sq ft and can accommodate hundred companies at a time.

Niti Aayog Chairman, Amitabh Kant inaugurated the centre which spread across 6.09 acres of land situated on Gokul Road.

The new facility is the first of its kind in India with full-fledged facilities including a maker’s lab (place where people can learn and use new technologies they may otherwise not have access to) and ESDM (Electronics Systems Design and Manufacturing) cluster. It also has all the amenities needed for a robust startup ecosystem to flourish.

This new centre aims to foster an inclusive startup ecosystem by providing a platform to validate startup ideas and create linkages between startups and all of the stakeholders, like mentors, investors, and early customers. The incubator is targeted to support the startups that serve semi-urban and rural population.

Speaking on the launch, Kant said “India needs disruptive innovation to tackle challenges in sectors like health, education and agriculture. We have to take a big leap in social innovation to make over 60 percent of India’s population living in rural areas a part of our growth story. Real solutions for the country’s problems should come from Tier II and III cities.”

The Deshpande Foundation has established the Sandbox Startups incubation centre in Hubballi. Over the last eight years, Sandbox Startups has supported over 80 ventures with sustainable, scalable and resilient business models and created wealth of over Rs 70 crore in the local economy.

The companies span across areas like technology, image processing, agricultural technology, Internet of Things, logistics, ecommerce, healthcare and service sectors.