The Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) is reaching out to students of biological sciences with a campaign to promote innovation and entrepreneurship and encourage them to establish start-up ventures in biotechnology.
“This represents a new dimension in our evangelisation drive that has so far focussed on engineering institutes,” says Saji Gopinath, CEO, KSUM. “Most students of biological sciences move on to research and teaching. Our attempt is to introduce them to the possibility of start-ups in the area.”
The KSUM has plans to establish a network of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Centres (IEDCs) in bioscience colleges. “Students from these centres can progress to bioincubators. We are also talking to the MIT Fab Lab Foundation, US, on setting up a Biofab Academy dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship in molecular and synthetic biology,” Dr. Gopinath told The Hindu .
The activities initiated in the IEDCs are expected to equip the students to come up with innovative ideas for professional mentorship and funding. The Biofab lab on the other hand, provides them with hands-on experience in working with biology.
In the initial phase of its evangelisation drive, the KSUM had set up 196 IEDCs, mostly in engineering institutes.
This initiative was backed by the establishment of digital fabrication laboratories (Fablabs), incubators, technolodges and accelerators.
Campaign extended
“We are now extending this campaign to students of biological sciences in a bid to tap the immense potential of the biotechnology sector,” Dr. Gopinath said.
The KSUM has also initiated several measures to ensure the availability of funds for start-ups and help them minimise exposure to risks.
Private and government funding for start-ups stood at 263 crore in the year 2015-16. The government provides seed funding and equity base funding and encourages private investment in fledgling enterprises. It has also come up with a Kerala-based venture capital funding scheme for start-ups.
“A spin-off benefit for students dabbling in start-ups is that they can dramatically improve their employability, thanks to the exposure to real-life situations,” says Dr. Gopinath.
