Technopark Technology Business Incubator has joined hands with Incubation Centre Arsenaal Brussels (ICAB), The Brussels Capital Region in Belgium to set up a base for Brussels-Kerala collaboration in cross boarder exchange in Information Communication and Technology (ICT) incubation. The Memorandum of Understanding to this effect was signed by Shri P H Kurian IAS, Principal Secretary IT; Dr. K C Chandrasekharan Nair, CFO and COO, Technopark TBI and Julien Meganck, President ICAB in the esteemed presence of Belgium’s Princess Astrid and Minister of Economy Brussels, Ms Celine Fremault in Chennai on November 28, 2013. A 300-member trade delegation from Belgium led by Princess Astrid was in India for the past week to boost trade and investment ties between India and Belgium.
The co-incubation tie up was announced at a press conference conducted today in Trivandrum by Dr. K C Chandrasekharan Nair; Mr. Jean Vereecken, MD, ICAB, Brussels; Mr. Jacques Evrad, MD – Brussels Invest & Export and Mr. Alex Koshy, Consultant to Brussels Invest & Export.
According to the MoU signed, companies from respective regions can leverage the co-incubation agreement signed to establish their businesses in the ICT domain in both regions and jointly promote exchanges and cooperation between Belgium and Indian SMEs. It will also throw open the door to recognize common goals and strategic objectives through exchanges in business development, creative and technical collaboration. Technopark TBI will offer free office space from three to six months to the Brussels companies that wish to do business with India and vice versa. They will guide these companies with practical cooperation plans and priority will be given to companies that are directly recommended by ICAB.
Mr. P H Kurian said, “We had earlier signed a similar MoU with Bavarian Government and today almost four of our incubated companies have started operations in Bavaria. Belgium is a great country to set up business and spread wings to the European markets especially for the SMEs in Kerala. This co-incubation initiative will help many companies from Kerala to trigger their expansion plans at a faster pace. Technopark-TBI will be holding constant dialogues with the ICAB and ensuring a smooth transition process for our companies there.”
“This is a win-win situation for companies from Kerala especially those who wish to expand operations into the European market. ICAB will provide office space for free during a period of three to six months to our companies with a technological profile and have concrete plans to establish R&D or collaborative relations with Brussels organizations and that have received a recommendation by T-TBI.” Said Dr. K C Chandrashekharan Nair. “Moreover T-TBI and ICAB will also arrange for networking meetings and also promote each other’s activities in their respective regions. This will definitely boost our companies’ presence in the European market to a great extent thereby of Kerala IT.”
“As two vibrant democracies, India and Belgium share common values and have a similarity on a number of issues confronting the world. Belgium is the second largest trading partner of India in the European Union after Germany. Business relations between Belgium and India are flourishing. This MoU has strengthened our relations with Kerala IT and we hope to see a great relation and greater benefits for both regions in the future.” Said Mr. Jean Vereecken. “The Brussels Capital Region, centraly located in Europe with high connectivity to all major cities, multilingual, highly influential as thecapital of the EU makes Brussels an ideal location to build global business. Brussels having a service oriented economy makes it a favourite destination amongst the IT/ITES industry.” He added.
Technopark Sr. Business Development Manager Mr. M Vasudevan conducted a presentation on Technopark for the team from Brussels earlier. Representatives from various Technopark companies also participated in the interactive session held by the team from Brussels and later they also met the press .
About ICAB
The mission of ICAB (Incubatie centrum Arsenaal Brussel) is to stimulate the growth and development of young companies involved with communication and engineering technologies.
ICAB opened its doors on the Arsenal site in Etterbeek in 2009, with the Brussels-Capital Region, the BRDA and Vrije Universiteit Brussel as its principal shareholders.
