How the state can incubate its startups on campuses

Alumni-Govt-Varsity Funding & Commercialising Innovations A Must For Companies To Thrive

Talk about startup hubs and Tamil Nadu, specifically Chennai, is not among the first that comes to mind. Despite early successes like Murugavel Janakiraman of Bharat Matrimony, Sridhar Vembu of Zoho or more recently, Girish Mathrubootham of Freshworks, the state continues to be a laggard in the startup space. A largely untapped resource lies in TN’s 600-odd engineering colleges, which offer a large pool of potential entrepreneurial talent. These academic institutions could hold the key to the state moving up the ladder in the startup ecosystem.

“Academic institutions are not only sources of ideas, but also of future entrepreneurs. Given the sheer volume of colleges, the state has the potential to produce entrepreneurs if there is adequate mentoring and opportunity to innovate,” said Rajan Srikanth, copresident, Keiretsu Forum, Chennai and Singapore.
TREC-STEP, founded in 1986 and housed near NIT-Trichy, is an early mover. Situated amid a large SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) cluster, the incubator has bred several manufacturing technology related ventures.

IIT Madras with its incubation cell and research park has spawned several successes like speech recognition startup Uniphore which recently bagged funding from former Cisco chairman John Chambers. The cell has supported more than 142 startups, investing ?14 crore. “We want to create an atmosphere where there is backing for entrepreneurs — be it mentoring or legal, accounting and technical support,” said Bhaskar Ramamurthi, director, IIT Madras. “Our incubator is not just for IIT-M students and faculty. More than 38% of founders are not from IIT-M. We are not a general purpose incubator. The entrepreneur has to demonstrate why he or she needs IIT-M,” he said.

But despite having proven models of success, TN is yet to create a conducive ecosystem. Anna University, with close to 600 affiliated colleges, is a fertile ground to spur startup activity. With the efforts of alumni, the CEG Alumni Incubator (Cegain) was set up in 2016 which now supports 14 startups.

“The only attraction for a startup in this incubator is the rent-free space. There is no funding or mentoring involved. Processes are long drawn,” said a source. Ramprasad Krishnakumar, who runs a 3D printing startup Protovalley at Cegain, had to invest in an inverter and UPS to support his machines. “The proximity to fresh talent keeps me here. There are robotic clubs which give me access to the necessary talent,” he said.

While IIT-M and NIT-Trichy have tapped into central government and research grants, Cegain runs on alumni funds. “Plans are underway to develop a three-way partnership between the university, alumni and government to avail formal funding and expand operations,” a spokesperson said.

The big challenge for academic institutions lies in encouraging faculty to actively participate in entrepreneurship-related activities. “For institutions that have ongoing research activities, there is an immediate opportunity. If we can create a culture of expectation from the faculty and shift emphasis towards commercialising their innovations, academic institutions are a long-term gold mine for the state and country,” said Srikanth.

An effort in this direction is being made by IIT alumni through an initiative called PAN IIT Alumni Leadership Series (PALS). Headed by Mohan Narayanan, their focus is to augment engineering education in tier-2 and tier-3 engineering colleges. “NIT-Trichy, IIT-M, PSG Tech, IIT-Palakkad are all part of this initiative. We have industry partnerships with L&T, Ashok Leyland and Cognizant amongst others,” said Narayanan.

PALS has 22 institutes like KSR group, Kumaraguru College of Technology, Adithya Institute of Technology, Vivekanandha College for Women among others. “Select faculty members are taken to IIT-M Research Park to be shown the incubation cell. Hopefully, this will make them consider the possibility of setting up one in their college.”

Source: https://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tracking-indian-communities/how-the-state-can-incubate-its-startups-on-campuses/