Soon, the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) will offer young entrepreneurs in its recognised colleges an incubation facility on the lines of the Startup Village to pursue their dreams.
As a first step towards setting up the incubator, the varsity is midway through drafting a Rs.1-crore proposal aimed at building infrastructure on its main campus in Thrikkakara. Young talents could utilise the facility to carry out their venture.
Senior officials close to the development told The Hindu that the proposal would be placed before the Union and State governments for assistance. The aim was to make the facility a vibrant space, where youngsters could come, share and implement their innovative business ideas, they said.
Cusat has sought the expertise of Sijo Kuruvila, former Chief Executive Officer of Startup Village, to chalk out a detailed action plan towards implementing the incubation facility.
Those associated with the project also confirmed that veteran IT experts would support the innovative venture.
A decision by the Centre to aggressively promote entrepreneurship and start-up ventures has also come as a ray of hope for Cusat. The varsity is hopeful of securing funds to set up state-of-the-art infrastructure for the incubation facility.
Some of the proposed facilities include furnished office space with air-conditioning, furniture, continuous power supply, networking, discussion and conference rooms. A ready-to-use plug and play infrastructure providing a lower operational cost has been envisaged in the first phase of the initiative.
Cusat has also decided not to limit the start-up ventures to IT alone but also to encourage youngsters to spread out to other potential areas such as biotechnology, agriculture, food processing and other non-IT fields. A mentoring project is also on the anvil, where chief executive officers will be invited to interact with the young entrepreneurs. The varsity will also help in attracting angel investors to support the campus start-ups.
