The Technology Business Incubator (TBI) of the National Institute of Technology, Calicut (NIT-C) has got a fillip to its second phase with the Centre sanctioning ₹5.28 crore under the Start-up India mission.
The NIT-C has been selected for funding along with 30 other institutions to create an ecosystem for start-ups in the areas of agriculture, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and energy. “The fund was sanctioned by the Department of Science and Technology under the National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board,” TBI chairman Abraham T. Mathew told The Hindu here on Friday.
He said the Ministry of Human Resource Development had joined hands with the Department of Science and Technology to give formal recognition to business incubation and start-up movement in higher education institutions. “We have an ambitious plan to create a facility for enabling start-ups and incubation in the diverse areas of science and technology, keeping local potential in perspective. This plan includes the development of a Technology Bhavan to seamlessly interconnect academia and start-ups in the coming years. By 2020, there will be 40 start-ups working in our incubator,” said Dr. Mathew.
Funding
Started in 2004, the TBI of NIT-C is one of the first incubators in the country that obtained funds from the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, and the Technology Development Board.
“Agencies such as the Kerala Financial Corporation, Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation, Malabar Chamber of Commerce, Calicut Cyber Park and IIM Kozhikode have been giving us invaluable support in the realisation of our goals. We have provided incubation to 42 companies, out of which a significant majority have become successful, ” he said.
Currently, 13 start-ups are under incubation. “Some of the companies have made a remarkable impact as an enterprise and NIT-C alumni have made significant strides in this direction. IT companies based at Kozhikode such as NuCore and Infinite Open Solutions with international clientèle were incubated by the TBI,” said Dr. Mathew.
Hitherto, the focus was on electronics and information technology. Even then we tried to encourage frugal innovations as well. A start-up namely Kenzon which is into coconut tree climbing and arecanut tree climbing machines was incubated by us. Along with this, we have conducted several rounds of training for various strata of the society, with some sessions exclusively focusing on women. The NIT-C is taking a leading role both in education and technology business incubation,” Dr. Mathew added.
