The campus is the new powerhouse of ideas. Make yours too. It doesn’t cost all that much to set up a business incubator

Campus incubators are, simply put, launch-pads for business ideas of students staff and alumni. They provide a mentoring environment and easy access to college faculty and facilities.

The basic infrastructure comprising space, electricity and internet connectivity can be set up at the cost of just under Rs 11 lakh. Additional funds would be needed for faculty, support staff, research equipment and the like. Where there are well equipped college laboratories and workshops, this component could be reduced by sharing these.

A number of reputed institutes of the country have taken the lead in establishing campus incubators. TeNet group IIT Madras, Technology Business Incubation Unit (TBIU) IIT Delhi, Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE) IIT Bombay, TREC-STEP Business Incubator NIT Tiruchirapalli, Center for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) IIM Ahmedabad and NS Raghavan Entrepreneurial Academy IIM Bangalore, etc. are a few examples. These incubators are still in their nascent stages with most of them being established around five to six years back. Considering how little time they have been in business, they have a good track record, churning out on an average of 3 successful new companies every 2 years. Most of these campus incubators are joint endeavors by alumni and the college.

The investment for an incubator can be raised through government grants or alumni donations. IIT Delhi, for example, secured around Rs 95 lakh through government grants for supporting the activities. The government has now formulated a scheme to set up around 100 incubators in the country to encourage the development of new businesses. It has earmarked a budget of Rs 1.13 crore for 2007-08 for providing grants to 50 universities and training institutes for setting up these incubators! Many banks and private equity firms now realize the crucial role incubators play in developing new businesses and have come forward to fund them. For logistical information and support, you can approach institutions such as the Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE) and the Entrepreneurial Development Institute (EDI) which hold special workshops and mentorship programs for entrepreneurs. The National Entrepreneurs Network, an initiative by Wadhwani Foundation, provides an extensive support system for entrepreneurs.

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written by Sunil Malhotra, August 18, 2009

This is a noble idea and has been around for a while now. But when I read government numbers hovering around 1 crore for 50-100 incubators, in today's world, I am forced to judge the seriousness of such initiatives. It is one thing to give a grant to a professor for a research project and quite another in the context of serious entrepreneurship in the real world. What could a graduating engineer contemplate creating with something like 10 lacs which includes his livelihood as well. Let's get real guys!

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written by Karan Gupta, April 07, 2009

I want to understand this opportunity in detail as I am aspiring for a new venture and this opportunity seems quite productive and also leeds to development of everyone around.

Kindly contact me.

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