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19 colleges make the cut for Karnataka government's startup incubation drive

The state government aims to include 50 institutions under the programme during the Start-up Policy period of 2015-20.

Bengaluru: Nineteen engineering and non-engineering colleges across the state have been chosen by the state government for funding under the New-Age Incubation Network (NAIN) programme under phase 1 and 2.

The government’s initiative, NAIN, was set up under the Karnataka Start-up Policy for 2015-20 by the Department of Information Technology, Biotechnology and S&T. It is aimed at helping institutions nurture an ecosystem for promoting entrepreneurship and innovation in Tier 2&3 cities.

“We want our students to develop the entrepreneurial spirit. The NAIN funding is just a small step to encourage innovators to become successful entrepreneurs,” said Karnataka’s IT-BT Minister Priyank Kharge.The state government aims to include 50 institutions under the programme during the Start-up Policy period of 2015-20, he said.

Mr Gaurav Gupta, principal secretary, IT, BT & Science & Technology Department, said that NAIN has funded 283 projects till date with a grant support of up to Rs 3 lakh to each group. Most of these groups have developed a working prototype, demonstrating the proof of concept. “We have also seen some student groups incorporate a company and run it professionally. Till date, two patents have been awarded and some more are in the pipeline,” he said.

Mr Gupta said that under NAIN, the students are encouraged to identify local problems and address them by using concepts of frugal innovation and develop appropriate technology-based solutions and working prototypes. The mentors assigned to the students are expected to help them evolve a suitable business model based on the chosen new technology with a view to think as entrepreneurs, he said.

The nine engineering colleges selected for NAIN funding under Phase 1 are: Siddaganga Institute of Technology (Tumakuru) and National Institute of Engineering (Mysuru) are among the nine colleges in phase 1, while Sri Jagadguru Chandra Shekaranatha Swamiji Institute of Technology (Chikkaballapura) and Sahyadri College of Engineering and Management (Mangaluru) are among ten colleges selected under the phase 2.

( Source : Deccan Chronicle. )
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