ISLAMABAD: National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage (NIFTH) in collaboration with Echo Records has launched country's first Cultural Incubation Center called "Merge Incubation Center" (MIC).

It aimed at bringing start-ups working in the cultural and creative industry along with performing arts to help them develop business models for economic empowerment.

Talking to APP, the Executive Director Lok Virsa Talha Ali said its vision to help youth and technology serve heritage and culture for economic development of the creative industry.

He said it was fully equipped with state of the art infrastructure that includes audio, video recording studios, concert halls and amphitheatres, NIFTH, Lok-Virsa is an ideal set-up for incubation of creative minds.

The roadmap to achieving a value chain of creative infrastructure will include incubation of start-ups, investment opportunities, content development, tech-development, e-commerce and much more, he added.

With an objective to connect the youth of Pakistan to the cultural heritage through performing arts, cultural literacy and economic empowerment, NIFTH has partnered with Echo Records which is an end-to-end platform covering the entire value chain of creative industry, to carry out its mandate.

He said incubators were specially designed programs to help young startups innovate and grow they usually provide work spaces, mentorship, education and access to investors for startups or sole entrepreneurs.

Adding he said these resources allow companies and ideas to take shape while operating at a lower cost during the early stages of business incubation, incubators require an application process to join and usually require a commitment for a specific amount of time.