CHENNAI : The incubation centre at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M), has not only fuelled the startup dreams of young entrepreneurs but has also given an opportunity to its faculty members to convert their dreams of starting their own businesses, into reality.
According to figures provided by IIT-M’s incubation centre, presently, at least 60 professors of the institute are involved in startups as founders, advisors, mentors and shareholders. There has been a surge in the figures after establishment of the incubation centre in IIT-M in 2013.
Officials said five years ago, only 15 IIT Madras faculty members were involved in startups but now the figure has reached 60. The support and infrastructure provided by the incubation centre, has encouraged more faculty members to concretise their long cherished dreams of converting their idea into a successful business.
“In past three years, we have been seeing a big jump in the numbers. In FY 2016-2017, about 35 companies had IIT Madras (IIT-M) faculty members as founders or advisor/minority shareholders or mentors, the figure went up to 49 in FY 2017-2018, and this year it has reached 60,” said a senior official associated with the incubation centre.
“Around 33 per cent of the total portfolio of 186 deep-tech startups established at IITM Incubation Cell, have IIT-M faculty members as founders or are involved as minority shareholders,” said Tamaswati Ghosh, CEO of IITM’s Rural Technology and Business Incubator. She claimed that involvement of faculty in startups at IITM, is one of the highest in any of the institutes in the country.
“The IIT-M has a specific policy in place to avoid any kind of conflicts in research activities and being part of a startup as a mentor or director. The policy explains in detail for how many hours the faculty members need to take classes,” added Ghosh.
Presence of faculty members in the startup team, acts as an inspiration for the young entrepreneurs and also gives a boost to the incubation centre.