Perform or perish is the message the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) has sent out to the nearly 200 Innovation Entrepreneur Development Centres (IEDCs) on campuses across the State as it proposes to roll out an accreditation scheme for IEDCs from next academic year.
The IEDCs will be classified into four broad categories based on their performance for which a detailed report has been sought from them. Technology innovation fellows from the KSUM will visit the IEDCs ahead of accreditation.
Top performing (Grade A) IEDCs will be given financial support for setting up incubator facility. Performing IEDCs (Grade B) will be given funding subjected to a cap of ₹5 lakh and average performing ones (Grade C) with funding up to ₹2 lakh.
“The lowest performing IEDCs will be given three months to perform followed by a review based on which funding will be granted. The non-performing IEDCs thereafter will lose KSUM accreditation and will be closed down,” Saji Gopinath, CEO, KSUM, told The Hindu .
Grading will be based on ten parameters such as the list of patents and start-ups that have emerged, working plan for at least next six months, labs sanctioned and installed, etc.
Meanwhile, the KSUM has decided to hold its monthly IDEA Day themes for sector-specific development of ideas. The first theme-based IDEA Day on social and rural innovations will be held next month. As such, a sector expert will be added to the five-member expert committee that vets the ideas at IDEA Days to ensure the viability of sector-specific ideas.
IDEA Days are now being hosted by campuses with best performing IEDCs unlike the first four ones, which were held on the Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi campuses of the KSUM. The objective is to hold IDEA Days across Kerala to facilitate greater and convenient participation of students.
Nearly 40 ideas received through the IEDCs have been short-listed for further assistance. Student entrepreneurs have given a plan for developing their ideas into prototypes and prototypes into minimum viable products based on which grants of up to ₹30 lakh would be available to them in a phased manner.
