Deep in the woods, not known to many, there's something cooking that will change the way we live. There's a company that's working on development and marketing of seaweed-based biofuels technology and ocean-based farming of seaweed. Next door, another company assembles robots to aid education. In the same corridor, school report cards are being redesigned. There's also a company that works on facial recognition and image processing applications that will help you test your make-up and styling even before you've tried or applied it, with just a swish of a finger on your iPad or iPhone. And, another, that promotes niche tourism by making it experiential and rural.
These companies are housed next to each other in little cabins with professors who mentor these entrepreneurs. Welcome to the world of IIT-Madras and its incubation cell called C-Tides (Cell for Technology, Innovation, Development and Entrepreneurship Support) run by the Department of Management Studies. The incubation cell, since its inception in 2009 (the cell existed as a forum to promote the spirit of entrepreneurship through lectures and workshops for a decade before that), has supported about 12 different companies and provided them with infrastructure and guidance, for free.
“What do we gain? We are an educational institution. We gain the pride of transforming an individual into an entrepreneur and nurturing companies,” says Professor L.S. Ganesh, founding faculty of the incubation cell.
“All we ask is for an idea that's not ‘me too',” he says, explaining how a select few with promise are chosen. And the cell has met with both commercial success and critical acclaim.
Balaraju Kondaveeti, co-founder and CEO of BodhBridge Educational Services, incubated by C-Tides, is all ready to move out now that his business has flourished. Not only did he successfully invent a smart card for security transactions that's made phishing impossible, he also designed it at a cost hundred times less than the ones available in the market and sold the technology to Lasersoft (later acquired by Polaris). Today, he runs the super popular btechguru.com, a platform for online learning and recruitment that has attained Google Page Rank Seven with visits from 150 cities from around the country. “I don't come from a well-off family. So there's no way anyone would've given me the money to start my own business,” says Balaraju.
“When I first came to Prof. Ganesh with my idea of human emoticons two years ago, he told me bluntly it wouldn't work. One year later, I showed him a demo of the facial image processing application that could be used for virtual makeovers and within a few moments, he said ‘Move in',” says Vasan Sowriraja, Founder of VDime Innovative Works. Vasan is all set to launch his virtual makeover application called 1000 Lookz all over the country by tying-up with luxury salons and also has a free platform on the iPhone for the consumer. “Whenever we have doubts, we even sit and attend management classes. I don't think any department in the world would allow that.”
“It's completely relationship based. It's got to do with understanding their vision and letting them do it themselves,” Prof. Ganesh adds. “Monetary returns will happen. There have been so many instances of students giving back to the institution. But it's not run on a quid pro quo business model. It's run on love and affection.”
Anantharaman Mani is relatively newer to C-Tides having moved in only four months ago. His company Visual Data Insights, that's developed a product called Report Bee, has redesigned the progress report card to break down the data and make it more insightful for the teachers and the parents and also chart the growth of the student's strengths and weaknesses over a period. “We are moving from an information world to a data world. To make sense of the data is going to be the fundamental key and before I could say more, he got what we were trying to do,” says Anantharaman. “It always helps to be surrounded by people who get you and he's a rock star.”
“We know that pictures speak a thousand words. So when you show data represented through graphs and a picture tells you everything you need to know about the student, it is a great idea,” says the professor.
“Trust is a very important factor because we are dealing with intellectual property here but you will find all of us sharing our ideas with each other because the environment is so conducive and friendly,” says Anantharaman.
Being situated inside IIT means they have access to quality interns. “These projects become case studies for the management students and the companies get quality talent to work for them. It helps both parties,” says Professor Ganesh.
These are still early days for the cell despite all the awards the companies have won for innovation. “Right now everything is informal like all new organisations. Soon, we will formalise processes a little more but the principle will remain the same — to carefully foster companies and write life histories of the birth and growth of great companies. It's like the joy of watching a new born grow and nurture it till it becomes old enough to sustain on its own.”
