The Indian Institute of Technology Madras has established a Centre for Research on Startups and Risk Financing (CREST) to create a data repository on Indian startups and ventures. This will address the hurdle for engaging in high-quality research.
From 2011 to 2020, the risk capital investment in Indian technology startups has reached $68 billion (approx. ₹4,76,000 crore). IIT-M Director Bhaskar Ramamurthi said the research initiatives had strong international collaborative connections. “We want to have strong flow of people and ideas,” he said.
CREST will engage in scholarly research, encompassing areas of innovation, entrepreneurship and risk capital.
A. Thillai Rajan, principal investigator of CREST, said it had been set up at an apt time when startups were playing a critical role in different walks of life during the pandemic. “A research centre that helps enhance the success of startups through appropriate policy formulation or managerial decision making is even more relevant now,” he said.
