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By Prarthana Mitra
In a move that could further bolster India?s start-up frenzy, Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) around the country announced on Tuesday their decision to assist doctoral students from?centrally funded technical schools in turning their entrepreneurial ideas into reality.
The project, will be executed by IIT Delhi and the administration has also said they will?set up a separate incubation centre in Sonepat, Haryana, to house and train 50 companies every year.
Here?s what happened
Doctoral students from India?s premium engineering colleges will now have a fair chance and ample scope of converting their theses into start-ups.
Of the 25,000 scholars pursuing doctoral studies in centrally-funded schools, the promising researchers who will be shortlisted will be provided with a monthly compensation along with seed capital, free mentoring, accommodation and access to IIT-Delhi labs? amenities they are believed to need in order to start their own venture.
?It will be a platform to harness deep technology from blockchain to artificial intelligence via young companies. The aim is to convert thesis to start-ups,? said V. Ramgopal Rao, director of IIT-Delhi in an interview with LiveMint.
Why you should care
The initiative aims to extend the institutes? invaluable infrastructure to students who have previously had experience in working with artificial intelligence, augmented reality, deep machine? learning cybersecurity, sustainable energy, blockchain technology and infra security, so that they can develop their ideas into companies. This will further give Indian entrepreneurs an edge in the ever changing and technically powered global economy.
More importantly, the project endeavours to bridge the gap between the ideas churned out by doctoral students every year and the funding required to transform these potentially ground-breaking ideas into reality.
B.K. Panigrahi, a professor at the IIT-Delhi, has said that the move will also push doctoral fellows to think about an alternative career beyond academics and motivate them to become job creators instead of joining the league of job-seekers, which is a major cause of brain drain from the economy. So if you are a PhD student contemplating the future of your thesis after you?ve earned your degree, IIT Delhi already has its eyes set on you.
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