THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: More student startups are expected to line up at the Kerala University Business Innovation and Incubation Centre (KUBIIC), as the varsity’s newly set up Translational Research & Innovation Centre (TRIC-KU) is all set to offer services for search, drafting and filing of patents, industry partner scouting and execution of contracts of sponsored projects.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been inked with TIPS@TIMed (Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Services), a technology transfer office project functioning at the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology’s technology business incubator, TIMed.
This is an important leap for TRIC-KU which has been promoting interdisciplinary research and creating an ecosystem in the university for preparing technology and product development capabilities.
According to KU faculty and TRIC-KU joint director Viji Vijayan, the activities of the centre will benefit the students, faculty and start-ups the most. The varsity would provide adequate space in its incubation centres for the start-ups to perform more efficiently.
At present, the start-ups are functioning in the respective departments under the supervision of KUBIIC. TRIC-KU will provide a centralised facility for these operations.
“TRIC-KU’s association with TIPS@TIMed will help hasten the patent process for start-ups and bring it down to just seven-eight months. The tie-up will also ensure that once the patent is granted, the product or process gets the crucial industrial collaboration,” she said.
TRIC-KU is part of a government initiative that was launched in the wake of a budget declaration in 2022-23 budget to start translational research centres in all state universities. A sum of Rs 20 crore was earmarked for each university in the budget.
KU had submitted a Rs 30 crore proposal of which Rs 24.6 crore was sanctioned. An innovation building, an animal research facility and an industrial area were sanctioned under the project funded by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB).