Gurugram, July 17 Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) soft-launched Apiary, a Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Blockchain and also launched ' Idea Challenge Program in Blockchain' at STPI incubation centre, Gurugram in association with Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of Haryana, Government Blockchain Association and several blue-chip companies and top tier academic institutions. The soft-launch of 'œApiary & 'œIdea Challenge Programme' is done by Dr. Omkar Rai, Director General, STPI in the august presence of Shri Saurabh Gaur, Joint Secretary, MeitY, Shri Ajay Singh Tomar, Additional Secretary, Department of IT, Electronics & Communication, Govt. of Haryana, Shri Pankaj Thakar, CoE & Founder Padup, Shri Devesh Tyagi, Senior Director, STPI, Shri Rajneesh Agrawal, Director STPI Noida and Shri Subodh Sachan, Director STPI HQ. STPI-Dehradun Staff and IT/ITeS units of state of Uttarakhand virtually attended the programme. The 7,000 sq. ft. Apiary -CoE, at STPI-Gurugram targets to 100 startups in coming 5 years. The centre aims to provide blockchain as a service and allow all stakeholders to benefit from shared learning, experiences, and resources. The startups will be mentored by a group of accomplished industry and academic pioneers, led by the Chief Mentor Shri Pankaj Thakar, CoE & Founder Padup and aided by a strong Governing Council (GC) & Project Management Group (PMG) consisting of top technology industrialists, investors and academicians. A number of corporate and academic partners have already come on board, including IBM, Intel, Padup Venture, Indian Angel Network, Vinners Angel Group, Padup Syndicate and Venture Catalyst. Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer, FITT- IIT Delhi/Sonepat Campus will be participating as academic partner. Blockchain is now a widely deployed technology, finding use beyond the financial realm. The adoption of it in sectors such as e-Governance, health, agriculture, travel and several other sectors will provide trust and immutability to the assets. The objectives of opening this CoE is to boost start-ups in the field of blockchain technology and to contribute to 'œMake-in-India' & 'œDigital India' programmes of Govt. of India. It will create a holistic eco-system for encouraging R&D, innovation, entrepreneurship in the blockchain technology in India by providing physical infrastructure and support services for prototyping, developing, testing & marketing; to incubate start-up units to create innovative solutions to meet the existing and emerging needs of sector; to provide business and technological mentorship & guidance in the domain; to provide networking services linking up with funding sources; to enable creation of IPs domestically. Expressing his thoughts on the launch of STPI Apiary, Dr. Omkar Rai, Director General, STPI said, 'œBlockchain is the most important technology after internet. It has significant application areas across industry verticals including e-governance. Startups can access mentors, capital, market and the entire world-class infrastructure in Apiary CoE, so they can sit together and create world-class IPRs. We are creating state-of-the-art infrastructure and enabling support systems for start-ups for creating innovative products. Being a new technology, Indian start-ups /companies can take a lead and become world leader in this domain.' 'œBlockchain CoE will be very instrumental in building innovative products for governance. Blockchain has the potential to help reduce the regulatory oversights and can unblock new values and sources of efficiencies in the government's federal structure,' underscored Shri Saurabh Gaur, Joint Secretary, MeitY, GoI. At the soft launch the CoE , Shri Pankaj Thakar, Founder, Padup Ventures & Chief Mentor underlined, 'œEntrepreneurship is a combination of art and science, and its implementation plays a critical role. How you use the technology in building innovations makes all the difference. STPICoEs are bringing structure to the startup ecosystem in terms of education, mentoring, workshops and funding.' 'œThe environment we have created in the state of Haryana will foster entrepreneurship. The Startup Policy of Haryana incentivises innovation & product development by start-ups.,' stated Shri Ajay Singh Tomar, Additional Secretary, Department of IT, Electronics & Communication, Govt. of Haryana. Idea Challenge Program: STPI APIARY invites applications from start-ups/ entrepreneurs for 'Idea Challenge Program in Blockchain Technology' in domains like Supply Chain, Agriculture, Finance and e-governance use cases pertaining to Land Records, Public Health, Labour, Service Record, Pension Delivery and Law Enforcement & Evidence Management. Registration open for participation in Idea Challenge Program from 17th July 2020 and last date for submission of application is 14th August 2020. For detailed to-do list please visit : https://apiary.stpi.in DW Correspondent