New Delhi, June 4 (IANS): Aiming to encourage innovations in domestic electronic system design and manufacturing (ESDM) space, the government's Electropreneur Park has started an outreach programme to select 10 early stage entrepreneurs in the sector across the country, a statement said on Thursday.

"India is set to witness exponential growth and development in the ESDM sector. The initiative is a subset of the government's 'Make in India' mission, aligned with its entrepreneurial and innovation focus," said Ajay Kumar, joint secretary in department of electronics and IT.

"STPI (Software Technology Parks of India) has also endeavoured for setting up of an Electropreneur Park which is an ESDM incubator programme in partnership with Delhi University and India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA). The aim of the Electropreneur Park is to encourage research, innovation and entrepreneurship in the ESDM sector in India," said STPI director general Omkar Rai.

The IESA, the implementation partner of the project along with execution partner Cybermedia India Limited (CMIL), recently concluded the five city roadshows in order to build awareness around the "Hunt for Best Electronics Startups of Tomorrow- 10 early stage entrepreneurs in the ESDM space".

The demand for electronics hardware in the country is projected to increase from $45 billion in 2009 to $400 billion by 2020.