IIT Madras start-up boot camp finale teams share learnings

NEW DELHI: About 8 teams from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras presented their learnings from the I-NCUBATE programme, an eight-week boot camp for early-stage start-ups organised by the Gopalakrishnan-Deshpande Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (GDC) at IIT Madras. The online finale of the 19th cohort of the programme was held on March 4.

The eight teams that participated in the 19th cohort of the IIT Madras I-NCUBATE programme included research scholars and undergraduate students from institutions such as IIT Bombay, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru, and Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Vellore. Young entrepreneurs also participated in the programme. During the finale of the programme, the applicants talked about their research idea, innovation, and the ways in which it could have an impact on society and business.

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According to a statement from IIT Madras, the I-NCUBATE programme has helped the participants to transform their research ideas from lab start-up ventures and enabled them to have a positive social and economic impact.

The chief guest of the IIT Madras I-NCUBATE programme was Anita Gupta, the head of the National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board, under the department of science and technology. While addressing the programme virtually, she said, “The Gopalakrishnan-Deshpande Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (GDC) is a unique concept as it helps the start-ups to identify if they should go ahead with their ideas. This helps in building confidence in young, aspiring entrepreneurs. During my visit to the Research Park of IIT Madras, it was evident that the investors were hunting for start-ups as the Park is a mark of the evolved ecosystem.”

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The is a centre of innovation that intends to develop research capacity in STEM universities, corporates and other research institutions in order to help in the growth of start-ups by enabling their research ideas to go from lab to market. The centre has been funded by IIT Madras alumni Gururaj Deshpande, Jaishree Deshpande, and ‘Kris’ Gopalakrishnan, said the statement.