Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 30 (IANS): Kerala's Technopark and a Brussels-based incubation centre have joined hands to promote cooperation and exchanges between the two entities.
The co-incubation tie-up was announced here Saturday by K.C. Chandrasekharan Nair, who heads the Technopark's Technology Business Incubator (T-TBI) and Jean Vereecken, managing director of the Incubation Centre Arsenaal Brussels (ICAB).
The MoU was signed in Chennai Thursday during the visit of a 300-member trade delegation from Belgium to enable companies from the two regions co-incubate their businesses and to recognize common goals and strategic objectives through exchanges in business development and technical collaborations.
As a part of the tie up, T-TBI will offer free office space for three to six months to Brussels-based companies who wish to do business with India and vice versa.
They will guide companies with practical cooperation plans and priority will be given to companies that are recommended by ICAB.
Kerala IT secretary P.H. Kurian said a similar MoU had earlier been signed with the Bavarian government "and four of our incubated companies have started operations there".
"This new co-incubation initiative will help many companies from Kerala to trigger their expansion plans in Belgium at a faster pace. Technopark-TBI will be holding constant dialogues with the ICAB and ensuring a smooth transition process for our companies there," said Kurian.
ICAB's mission is to stimulate the growth and development of young companies involved with communication and engineering technologies.
T-TBI, a joint initiative of Technopark, and the central government's Department of Science and Technology (DST) is helping the IT start-ups with the necessary resources and supports their need to evolve and grow.
"This new agreement has strengthened our relations with Kerala IT and we hope to see greater benefits for both regions in the future. Brussels have a service oriented economy, which makes it a favourite destination amongst the IT/ITES industry," said Vereecken.