Parul University in Vadodara had the honor of hosting Her Excellency Begoña Gómez and representatives from the Spanish government in an event that clearly demonstrates the increasing collaborative spirit between India and Spain. Her Excellency Begoña Gómez, who is also the wife of the Hon’ble Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sanchez, is in India touring the country including Gujarat as part of the larger delegation hosted by our Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modiji. During her visit, she visited 12 innovative emerging startups led by students of the university, visited the university’s incubation hub, and met with the dignitaries of the university - getting an insight into, and understanding of, the startup ecosystem and entrepreneurship networking of Gujarat.
Parul University remains dedicated to strengthening the startup ecosystem of Gujarat and India in general through strong entrepreneurship networks and support to the students. Parul University was chosen out of all incubation centers of Gujarat by the Ministry of External Affairs of Spain, due to their notion of entrepreneurship and innovation, which is evident in their recent ranking of 11-50 in Innovation by NIRF Ranking 2024 - surpassing notable institutions such as IITs, IIMs and other B-Schools. The university has also been given 4/4 star rating by the Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell, GoI for three consecutive years.
Her visit consisted of an engagement with the founders and/or co-founders of 12 innovation student-led startups: Galanto Innovations, Medref Healthbridge, Yield Earth Pro Pvt. Ltd., Dr. Cardio, Dori Handicrafts, PlanPact Innovations Pvt. Ltd., Cligent, Vcare Ostomy, CareKali, Indiesemic Pvt. Ltd., Ecorrect Pvt. Ltd. and CareBotech - demonstrating the diverse range of entrepreneur ventures that the university supports across sectors such as technology, healthcare, sustainable energy, agriculture, and many, more. The university has Startup Accelerator Centres in many major cities in Gujarat - Ahmedabad, Rajkot, and Surat
During her time with the participating students and incubation mentors, Her Excellency has gained a better perspective of student startups that are taking nascent and unique approaches to the global challenges, such as environmentally-friendly agriculture and innovative health tech solutions. She revealed both the barriers and successes student ventures have to navigate in her conversations with the young entrepreneurs and how this has deepened her understanding of startups in emerging countries. In her keynote interaction, she stated “You are doing an incredible job in the field of Entrepreneurship and Innovation through the incubation centre. I am fundamentally inspired by the focus on Social Innovation in regards to addressing urgent global challenges. Your presentation was phenomenal and I am excited to work with such engaged, passionate young innovators. Entrepreneurship is the need of the hour which can solve many of the key global issues.”
Her Excellency's visits highlighted the commitment of Parul University to provide an ecosystem that allows creativity and knowledge and business to flourish. She was greeted by the leadership of Parul University, including Dr. Devanshu Patel, President of Parul University, along with many deans, faculty, and students from a wide range of programs offered at the university. Dr. Devanshu Patel was quoted as saying, “It is a moment of great glory for Parul University to have a platform on the international level. Her Excellency’s visit was reinforced our desire to help our students reach their entrepreneurial potential. This visit has given us an opportunity of working towards collaboration with Spain in the future.” Students provided cultural dance and music performances to highlight the vibrancy and diversity of our cultural heritage from India and provided a warm welcome nxty to the guests from the government of Spain.
During her visit, Her Excellency took a tour of the incubation center, which offers support to young and aspiring entrepreneurs with mentorship, funding and essentials for launching their market-ready startup. The incubation center is a part of Parul Innovation & Entrepreneurship Research Center (PIERC) and has launched more than 200+ student-led startups to very successful trajectories of success. The center also shows the university's commitment in developing an ecosystem of innovation.
The visit of Her Excellency coincided with our university’s mutual goal to increase the range of academic and startup exchange between India and Spain, a rapidly growing and vibrant entrepreneurial economy. Mr Jay Sudani, CEO of PIERC said: “At our incubation center we are delivering an innovation ecosystem of creativity, resilience and impact. My interactions with Her Excellency today remind me of the tremendous value in bringing together diverse perspectives to envision a future where sustainability and innovation can connect.”
Parul University’s continuous commitment in providing students with opportunities for global exposure and partnerships is a response to the urgent need to develop the leaders of tomorrow capable of making a global impact going forward. As a city-based university continues to develop into innovation and entrepreneurial success, we look forward to facilitating more innovative collaborations in the future that will inspire and lead to transformational change at both national and international levels.
