: The Technology Innovation Zone (TIZ) is likely to get its first occupants within a month. The first phase of TIZ made up of 10,000 sq.ft opened at the Kinfra Hi-Tech Park at Kalamassery on Monday is likely to come as a relief to Start-up Village, though it is far from meeting the kind of demand for space from youngsters. The rest of the 1.25 lakh sq.ft is promised in another ten months.
While about 350 youngsters are waiting outside with innovative ideas, the 10,000 sq.ft now made available could accommodate just about 30 start-ups. To put it differently, while the need is for about 1,000 to 1,500 seats, the newly opened space has just 150 seats.
The process for filling up the space would be initiated within 15 days starting with giving potential occupants an opportunity for presenting their ideas before an incubation committee made up of the board members of Start-up Village and its chairman Sanjay Vijayakumar and Chief Executive Officer Pranav Kumar.
Based on the presentation, the pick of the candidates would be allotted space within a month, CEO Pranav Kumar told The Hindu . At present, the Startup Village is so hard pressed for space that companies growing at a faster rate and adding more hands are forced to move out of it retaining only a marginal space there.
Start-up Village is now using even an open space in its ground floor to encourage potential start-up ideas. Youngsters are given access to this space for working on their ideas out of which those found fit for incubation are accommodated in the Village.
Going by that philosophy, once the 1.25 lakh sq.ft is made available we could provide fertile ground not just to 350 start-ups in that space but double that number, he said.