Hyderabad, Dec 8 (PTI) Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday said fostering student entrepreneurship through innovation programmes is "extremely critical" and universities need to establish close linkage with industries to mentor students with novel business ideas.

Naidu, who was addressing the TiE Global Summit-2020 through video conferencing from Visakhapatnam, called upon universities to set up incubation centres to tap and nurture entrepreneurial talent among the youth.

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"To tap and nurture entrepreneurial talent among youngsters, our universities must set up incubation centres. I call upon all the universities in the country, please set up incubation centres. Attract the talent and encourage and promote the talent," he said.

The corporate sector too must come forward to fund and promote entrepreneurial ecosystem on university campuses, he added.

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Observing that youth comprise about 65 per cent of the country's population, he said the vast energies of the talented youth must be tapped fully and their mindset should be changed from being job-seekers to job creators.

He suggested that a special drive could be launched for promoting entrepreneurship among women.

There is a huge potential for promoting women entrepreneurs in the country, he said.

The country is home to the world's third largest start-up ecosystem and there is huge scope for growth in the area as vast talent is available in the country, he said.

Noting that an ecosystem that promotes entrepreneurship can enable many innovative ideas to be translated into promising start-ups, he said the government, on its part, is creating an enabling environment through start-up India.PTI SJRSS

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)