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The Hindu
5 days ago
- Business
- The Hindu
IIT-Madras launches School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship to boost startup ecosystem
The Indian Institute of Technology–Madras (IIT-M) has launched a School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship to provide structured academic support for the creation of startups. 'Our goal is to emerge as the leading school for innovation and entrepreneurship in the next five years and put IITM on the map of entrepreneurial universities across the world,' Prabhu Rajagopal, Head, School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship told The Hindu. 'The goal is primarily to provide an academic footprint to the entrepreneurial activities that are going on inside the campus,' he added. According to Mr. Rajagopal, who is a serial faculty-entrepreneur and a faculty member of the Mechanical Engineering Department, the school will offer a wide range of academic and non-academic programs, cutting-edge research in innovation and entrepreneurship, and a distinctive lab-to-startup pathway through the MS in Entrepreneurship (to be offered from the July-November 2025 semester). 'We will bring all the innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives on campus under this school. For example, the Centre for Innovation (CFI) and Nirmaan will now come under the school,' he added. Plans are on anvil to create IITM-specific funding mechanisms at the initiation and scale-up stages for startups, to be housed under the banner of this school. Practice-led degrees at undergraduate and master's levels are also being envisaged. 'We are also looking at an 'Innovation Doctorate,'' Mr. Rajagopal said. 'Last year, IIT-M Director set an ambitious target of incubating 100 startups every year. And we have achieved it. But it can't be a one-time wonder – We need to be doing it on a regular basis every time. And that's why we need to provide academic support for entrepreneurship on campus,' he added. During the financial year 2024–25, IIT Madras Incubation Cell (IITMIC) incubated 104 new startups. Over 50% of these startups were founded by IIT Madras members, including faculty, staff, students, and alumni, while 48% were founded by external entrepreneurs. Over the last 12 years, IITMIC has incubated a total of 457 deep-tech startups, collectively valued at over ₹50,000 crore.
The Hindu
27-04-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
IIT Madras incubated over 100 start-ups in past financial year
The Indian Institute of Technology Madras has incubated more than 100 deep tech start-ups in the past financial year. In the last 12 years, the institute's incubation cell has supported 457 deep tech start-ups, collectively valued at ₹50,000 crore. This figure is based on investments raised through venture capitalists. Among them are two unicorns and one company is on the verge of an IPO. The start-ups were founded by the institute's faculty, staff, students and alumni. External entrepreneurs have also contributed to them which span a range of critical and emerging sectors, including manufacturing and robotics to space tech, aero and defence, AI biotech and Internet of Things. A few of the successful ventures are Ather, Uniphore, Medibuddy, Hyperverge, Stellapps (MooPay), Agnikul, Planys, Detect, Mindgrove, Guvi and Galaxyeye. Institute director V. Kamakoti, who announced the achievements on Saturday, said the aim was to achieve the 'Startup 100 Mission' set in early 2024. The cell had incubated 104 start-ups during the financial year 2024-25. He said it was made possible by the sector-specific incubators such as Pravarthak, Bioincubator, HTIC MedTech RTBI and the institute's School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Over 50% of the 104 start-ups were founded by the institute's students, faculty, staff and alumni. As many as 48% were founded by external entrepreneurs, strengthening and showcasing IITMIC's diverse entrepreneurial ecosystem. Mr. Kamakoti said: 'The challenge of 'Start-up Shatam' (100 start-ups), which translates to incubating one start-up every third day, was taken up on April 1, 2024. The institute has incubated start-ups across a broad spectrum. This is our humble contribution to a Product Nation, a Start-up Nation and Viksit Bharat 2047.' The newly incubated start-ups are working in various sectors such as manufacturing, robotics, automotive and batteries, materials, defence and aerospace; AI, ML, AR/VR, blockchain, quantum computing, analytics/SAAS and fintech; health tech; biotech, pharma, agritech; IoT, and cyber physical systems. Prabhu Rajagopal, head of the School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, said, 'In the coming year we plan to strengthen the mentoring and go-to-market strategies as well as drive the emergence of multinational start-ups'. The School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which houses IITM's pre-incubator Nirmaan, hosts 129 pre-venture teams actively working on deep-tech themes, with 113 under the Pratham training phase and 16 under the Akshar pre-incubation phase.
India Today
26-04-2025
- Business
- India Today
A startup every third day: IIT Madras sets new record with 104 ventures in 2024–25
In a great stride towards innovation, the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) has, for the first time, incubated over 100 startups in a single financial year. This feat fulfils the 'Startup 100 Mission' set by Director Professor V Kamakoti at the start of the combined labour of the IIT Madras Incubation Cell (IITMIC) and the School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 104 startups were nurtured during 2024– more than half of these new ventures were founded by members of the IIT Madras community - its faculty, staff, students, and alumni. The remaining portion came from external entrepreneurs, reflecting the strength and openness of the institute's startup ecosystem. Professor Kamakoti made the formal announcement during the World IP Celebrations on 26 April 2025, where key members of the innovation effort were also shared that IIT Madras had filed 417 patents this year - a remarkable pace of more than one patent per startups are working across important deep-tech sectors, such as manufacturing, robotics, automotive materials, defence, aerospace, health tech, space, pharma, and quantum technologies. advertisement Leaders of young companies like Inbound Aerospace and Matterize praised the unwavering support and mentorship they received from IITMIC, which helped shape their ventures from early ideas to thriving Prabhu Rajagopal, head of the School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, reflected on how what once seemed an impossible goal was now achieved through systematic support for translational research. Meanwhile, Dr Tamaswati Ghosh, CEO of IITMIC, highlighted the rise from an average of 60 startups a year to this historic the past 12 years, IIT Madras has built a powerful deep-tech startup ecosystem, now boasting 457 startups with a collective value above Rs 50,000 crores, two unicorns, and many more successes on the Watch
