Tag: industrial park

STEP towards Innovation Drive

IIT Kharagpur has been among the firsts to build industrial parks within an academic setup, in the country. While the Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Park (STEP) was set up within and in the vicinity of the IIT Kharagpur campus, a Research Park has also been built in Kolkata to set up industrial laboratories involving researchers from IIT Kharagpur. STEP is aimed at encouraging and nurturing students to launch their startups through incubation facilities.

Recently Prof. Virendra Kumar Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur in the context of mobile application development by Indian companies, has been vocal about start-up ecosystem in technical institutions. While keeping his faith on STEP IIT Kharagpur he  can lead the initiative through seed funding and incubation facility.

Prof. Siddhartha Das, the newly appointed Managing Director of Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Park, shares his insights regarding STEP towards this end.

  • How STEP has been providing incubation support to startups? 

The Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Park at IIT Kharagpur sprawls over 20,000 sq.ft. of incubation space which is made available to startups for incubation. While fully constructed laboratory facilities are available, mobile laboratories for conducting experiments have been developed too. Further the Park is equipped with conference space for brainstorming and collaboration. 

Apart from space for R&D and operations, STEP performs few critical functions which are essential for startups:

i) Seed Funding

ii) Intellectual Property and other techno-legal requirements

iii) Business operations Advisory

i) Seed Funding – Seed funding is one of the most important aspects of a start-up and for a company incubated at STEP, the following seed loans are provided: (a) Technology Business Incubator (TBI) Seed Loan, (b) Technology Incubation and Entrepreneurship Training Society (TIETS) Seed Loan, (c) Technology Development Board (TDB) Seed Loan and (d) Technology Incubation & Development of Entrepreneurs (TIDE) Seed Loan. 

The seed loan amount ranges from ₹ 2 – 25 Lakh per start-up depending on the budget for the technology commercialization and business operations.

ii) Intellectual Property and Techno-legal requirements – Offering support in acquiring intellectual property rights is another important function of STEP. The unit collaborates with the law school of IIT Kharagpur, Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law, towards conducting seminars and workshops round the year and educating entrepreneurs in techno-legal matters. Further, the IPR office of the Institute facilitates filing of IP and registration.

iii) Marketing and Business Operations – Now, probably the most important part of a business is marketing because that is what introduces the product to the world. STEP has been seeking expertise from one of the top most business schools in India as ranked by MHRD’s NIRF – Vinod Gupta School of Management (VGSOM). Not only its presence on the campus, but VGSOM is known for its innovative practices, focus on research and industrial consultancy, educational outreach, which make it just the right partner for STEP to enrich the marketing experience of the startups incubated at the Park. The faculty experts from VGSOM conduct lectures, seminars and discussion forums to train startups towards managing business operations efficiently and marketing of the products developed by them.

  • Who can apply for incubating their startup ideas under STEP?

A key factor for STEP is its inclusiveness. The unit is open to any technology-based start-up with the legal status to register and operate in India irrespective of whether they are associated with the Institute or not. It enables STEP to not only invite the 750+ faculty or 60000+ alumni worldwide or the current students, but also any Indian with the ambition to innovate new technologies. Furthermore, STEP is in the process of starting collaboration with MSMEs across the eastern region for entrepreneurship development. To promote technical advisory and networking it is also collaborating with various chambers of commerce and capital rich industries.

  • Will there be any special drive for developing mobile applications?

Our Director Prof. Virendra Kumar Tewari has affirmed that the incubation facilities at various technical institutions in India are capable of leading such drives. STEP IIT Kharagpur, indeed can emerge as a beacon because of our existing system of incubation through infrastructure, operational support and seed funding. STEP can boast of a decent record in terms of incubation. The total no. of companies incubated till date are 200 out of which 183 companies have graduated and 17 are being mentored.

In the current situation, it is quite important that useful mobile applications and services are designed and operated in India. The Director has already mentioned planning for a drive to call for submission of proposals for mobile application development which can be sponsored by the Institute. If the technologies developed are market worthy or for the B2B industry, then STEP would certainly step into the process to incubate them into startups for future use by India.

East’s 1st Research Park

Times of India     Financial Express     Business Standard      Careers360     DevDiscourse

The 65th Convocation of IIT Kharagpur was marked by the launch of the Institute’s first ever Research Park. This is the first of its kind in eastern India which will provide a platform to create a self-sustained, healthy, vibrant, innovative ecosystem based on the spirit of collaborative research and consultancy between Industry and academia. The Research Park was inaugurated digitally by Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, Honourable Minister of Human Resource Development, Government of India in the presence of Shri Sanjiv Goenka, Chairman, Board of Governor and Chairman, RP – Sanjiv Goenka Group, Prof. Sriman Kumar Bhattacharyya, Director of IIT Kharagpur on 27 August 2019.

Spread over 10 acres of land at Rajarhat area of Kolkata and costing close to ₹100 crore, the G+9 Research Park seeks to develop and impart skills on product development, technology transfer, technology commercialization and patenting. It is equipped with a state-of-the-art incubation and research centre with over 70,000 square feet (1 acre <) of space dedicated to research and development, incubation and National Mission Labs.

“As a long-standing bastion of innovation through Research, with an entrepreneurship unit that bred industry leaders and entrepreneurs even before the birth of these disruptive changes, including the Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Park since 1986 and the Rajendra Mishra School of Engineering Entrepreneurship from 2010, the IIT Kharagpur Research Park has been dedicated to the nation to amplify the effect of research in society, and solve real and relevant problems for both the industry and the individual alike,” remarked Prof. Sriman Kumar Bhattacharyya, Director (Officiating), IIT Kharagpur.

The incubatees and R&D partners will have access to several facilities both shared and on hire basis including the data centre, e-library, conference room and access to labs as required. The Park boasts of world-class infrastructure as well as collaborative, scalable research spaces to aid stakeholders across the industry as well as academia. With the advantages of an institution like IIT Kharagpur, the Park also aims to conduct advanced academic programs jointly with industry experts.

“There is a huge opportunity for joint endorsement of R&D with IIT Kharagpur while availing access to highest quality talent from IIT Kharagpur faculty, students and alumni, state-of-the-art laboratories, centres of excellence and knowledge sharing with trans-disciplinary National Mission Projects. And all of these in an affordable, attractive, scalable spaces customized to the needs of both industry as well as an entrepreneur in the proximity to the airport in the city of Kolkata, Eastern-India’s largest metropolitan,” noted Prof. Partha Pratim Das, Professor in-Charge of the Research Park.

Facilities:

Research:

  • Industrial R&D Lab
  • Incubation Hub
  • National Mission and Academic Lab
  • Shell space with flooring, power, air-conditioning, network, telephone (Future Ready)
  • Faculty and Scholar Offices

Services:

  • State-of-the-art Electronic Library, Data Centre, Conference Rooms
  • VC-enabled Class Rooms, Studio
  • Guest House with Pantry, Kitchen, Dining, Laundry and Gymnasium
  • ATM, Travel Services, Café, Food court, and Roof-top Cafeteria
  • Basement and Roadside Car Parking
  • 500+ seater Auditorium

Support:

  • Centrally air-conditioned, 100% power backup, EPABX, Internet, Passenger and Service Lift
  • Reception and Waiting Hall
  • Fire Safety, Security, CCTV Surveillance, and Biometric Access integrated with BMS
  • Health Centre
  • LAN, BMS, CCTV, UPS, IPBX and Access Control and full power back up with DG

Modern Infrastructure Design:

The building has been designed to achieve a 4 Star rating from GRIHA with salient features such as use of Fly ash brick, PPC Cement, Low VOC paint, Double Glazing Unit (DGU), AC with VRF system, Occupancy Sensor, LED Lighting, dual flushing System, recycling of wastewater with STP, Solar power Generation also in accordance to have eco-friendly, energy efficiency and sustainability parameters.

The building facades have been treated with all the modern components elements, and new materials to be at par with the contemporary building design trends and to make it visually pleasing to the users as well.

The building has been designed for differently-abled people following accessible India guidelines with ramps at every entrance, accessible lifts and toilets at every floor.

The landscaping of the surrounding open spaces of the building has been done with local tropical plants, other green components, and lush green lawns to make it environmentally sustainable and rejuvenating for the users.