National Institute of Technology, Calicut's tech incubator is part of Startup India

Kozhikode: The Technology Business Incubator under the National Institute of Technology, Calicut (NITC) is part of the Startup India project under the Union ministry of commerce and industry. It has received a financial assistance of Rs 5 crore for hatching out new companies with novel concepts. The focus of the projects is now on nanotechnology, bio-technology and agriculture. The aim of the project is to identify and support new ideas, entrepreneurs and ensure they become sustainable. TBI manager M. Preethi told this newspaper that under the project new companies will be brought out focusing on several areas of entrepreneurship.

“A ‘nanotechnology’ based company has already started and other projects are yet to be streamlined,” she said. On the method being followed for incubation Ms Preethi revealed that the incubation period of a company is three years and the project period is five years. By the end of the project the companies should have become independent.

“TBI can avail a service charge from the companies as consultancy fee for training, moulding and procedural activities which can be used for running the project as well as supporting new companies,” she said. “The expenses can be also reimbursed as an equity model where the TBI will have equity in the hatched out companies and will share the profit,” she added. The TBI can accommodate as many as seven companies under the project.

So far the focus of TBI was electronics and IT. With ‘Startup India’ project the TBI shifted to areas of agriculture, nanotechnology and biotechnology. In its more than a decade long existence, TBI at NITC has proved a success by hatching out as many as 40 units while 17 units are still in the incubation phase. The TBI products in IT sector provide a cumulative turnover of more than Rs 25 crore providing job opportunities to around 1,000 experts.