Cyient Foundation, the CSR arm of Cyient Limited, has partnered with the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to set up a dedicated innovation cluster in Visakhapatnam. The agreement was formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in the presence of Andhra Pradesh Minister for Human Resources Development and IT, Nara Lokesh.
The initiative is designed to transform higher education institutions in and around Visakhapatnam into dynamic innovation hubs. It aims to foster collaboration among academia, startups, industry leaders, and investors. As part of the three-year plan, the project will establish structured innovation centres such as iCARE (Innovation Creation and Research for Entrepreneurship), iCAFE (Idea Creation and Auxiliary Facilities for Entrepreneurship), and IPR-TT (Intellectual Property Rights and Technology Transfer) cells.
Funded by Cyient Foundation through CSR grants and infrastructure support, the programme also includes boot camps, hackathons, mentoring, and innovation fairs to equip students and faculty with entrepreneurial and real-world innovation skills.
B.V.R. Mohan Reddy, Founder-Chairman of Cyient and chief patron of the Foundation, noted that this collaboration would build a sustainable innovation ecosystem that nurtures youth potential and strengthens academia-industry ties. AICTE Vice-Chairman Dr. Abhay Jere echoed the sentiment, highlighting Visakhapatnam as a potential model for future city-level innovation clusters across India.
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Currently, Andhra Pradesh hosts over 1,100 Institution’s Innovation Councils (IICs), with Visakhapatnam and other major cities like Vijayawada and Tirupati already serving as active centres of campus-driven innovation.
