To cater to the development of a sustainable startup ecosystem, the Bangladesh Computer Council’s (BCC) project Innovation Design and Entrepreneurship Academy (iDEA), will be working together with North South University (NSU) as part of a new agreement.
The academic institution in collaboration with the project under the ICT Division will be carrying out research and several other activities focusing on innovation and entrepreneurship in Bangladesh.
Recently, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed with iDEA on the NSU campus at the capital’s Bashundhara residential area.
The Project Director (Joint Secretary) of the iDEA Project Md Altaf Hossain and NSU Professor and the director of NSU Startups Next Initiative, Dr Shazzad Hosain signed the MoU.
Both parties will implement several initiatives jointly with the aim of developing the local entrepreneurial culture in the form of programs, training, awards and research, as per the MoU.
Additionally, the parties will assist each other in different areas of consultation, exchange of information, incubation, etc with the iDEA Project being part of the academic institution’s event partner.
The winning startups from this initiative will win grants based on evaluation by the iDEA Project Selection Committee.
The iDEA Project will also cooperate in different activities such as boot camps, workshops and seminars as per the mutual discussions, according to Altaf Hossain.
So far, 261 startups have been approved to provide pre-seed stage grants of Tk10 lakh from the iDEA project, information shared by the National Consultant (Communication) of the iDEA of ICT Division Shohag Chandra Das.
In addition to providing grants from the project, startups are being allocated free co-working space in the iDEA office, Agargaon, Dhaka.
Startups interested in co-working spaces and any innovative ICT-based ideas may apply for a grant of up to Tk10 lakh at the pre-seed stage.
The Senior Secretary of the ICT Division N M Zeaul Alam PAA and the Vice-Chancellor of North South University Professor Atiqul Islam, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of North South University Dr M Ismail Hossain, the Senior Consultant of iDEA RHM Alaol Kabir, the Legal Consultant of iDEA Adneen Zereen, other Deans of the university, officials from NSU and iDEA Project were present during the signing ceremony.