NEW DELHI (PTI): The National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) and the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) will establish an innovation-cum-incubation centre with external private funding to promote start-ups in the emerging area of aerospace technologies, a statement said on Wednesday.

Under this programme, start-ups in the area of aerospace engineering would be incubated, mentored and supported for product and prototype development and their validation.

The NRDC is a PSU under the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research while the NAL is an institute under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.

It is a historical day as NRDC and CSIR-NAL forged an innovative partnership to promote start-ups in the niche high tech area of aerospace engineering and this partnership may pave the way for establishing Innovation-cum-Incubation Centres in other CSIR laboratories which are working in different thematic areas, said H Purushotham, Chief Managing Director, NRDC.

He also said this partnership will help to create employment opportunities in the country.