Telangana Opens Doors For Start-ups As Contractors With TISC Initiative

Hyderabad: The government has opened the doors for start-ups in Telangana to become contractors, launching the Telangana Innovation Start-up Challenge (TISC) to provide young innovators and entrepreneurs an opportunity to work closely with the government, develop solutions to real-world problems and stand a chance to secure government contracts.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy had directed officials to invite innovative solutions for solar-powered irrigation, designated as the lead challenge under TISC.

The objective was to develop affordable solar pumps or retrofit kits for deep borewells that are 30 per cent cheaper, equipped with theft-resistant solar panels and tamper-proof grid metering.

The broader goal is to provide solar-powered irrigation facilities to every farm in the state while reducing the burden on the power sector.

The TISC initiative aims to harness the state's innovation capabilities to address seven priority challenges confronting rural and urban Telangana.

Start-ups, innovators, researchers, technology companies, industry and academic institutions have been invited to develop scalable solutions under the inaugural phase of TISC.

The challenge was launched at the curtain-raiser event for the Invest Telangana Global Summit in Delhi last week.

Applications are open until November 30, and interested applicants can submit their proposals through tisc.telangana.gov.in.

Dates for shortlisting, departmental reviews and the final round will be announced shortly.

Submissions will be evaluated on the relevance of the proposed solution to the identified problem, uniqueness of innovation, technology readiness, capability of the team and potential impact on the public and industrial sectors.

Applicants from across India and global innovation hubs are eligible to participate.