Expect more startups to mushroom as the government is planning big on tech incubation centres

The Indian government is now planning to provide much-needed help to technology incubation centres that help startups in setting up businesses.

Nearly 500 companies are getting seeded every year in about 200 incubators around the country.

The department of science and technology, which manages 100 incubators, had spent Rs 40 crore last year them.

Academicians are pinning hopes that the increase in incubators will have a huge impact.

"If we get enough number of companies from the incubators, India will be different ten years from now,” IIT Madras professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala told ET.

In an effort to increase the incubation centres, the department of science and technology and the department of biotechnology are enhancing this program.

They will start funding the companies and the science and technology department is mulling to start 25 new business incubators every year.

It will also come up with new scheme for grassroots innovation by starting challenges in five lakh schools, to imbibe innovation in schools.
ET reported that Jhunjhunwala has been closely involved in incubation at the IIT Madras incubation centres, which has so far formally incubated 99 companies in three incubators in its research park.

At IIT Bombay, the Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE) has incubated 78 companies.

"The more science there is in a startup, the richer the ecosystem needs to be. Startups need depth of expertise in many areas, and founders usually do not have all the technical knowledge. They need equipment hard to find except in a government lab, but the equipment in labs are not available easily to outsiders. Startups also need help with intellectual property strategy," V Premnath, director of NCL Venture Centre told ET.

Incubators have played a crucial role in expanding Indian economy.

Over the years, parents have encouraged their children to give flight to their entrepreneurial dreams.

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