Big biz meets IISc brains at ideas incubator

BANGALORE: There was a time when scientists at the Indian Institute of Science, the country’s premier science research centre, remained far removed from industry and business. Not any longer.
In about a month’s time, scientists and students at IISc will only have to walk across the road to set up a business.
An Entrepreneurship Centre, modelled on the lines of those at IITs and located adjacent to the IISc campus, is set to offer students and even faculty, the space and resources to incubate bright business ideas — germinating from work at the institute.
According to officials of the Society for Innovation and Development (SID), which is overseeing the project, the centre will be functional by mid-June and will look to incubate ideas in software development, embedded systems and electronics.
“We want to help our students and faculty get a foothold for their ideas. They will be provided with initial infrastructure assistance and space to start,’’ says administrative executive at SID, V. Thiruvenkatachar.
Bright sparks from IISc will share the Entrepreneurship Centre, spread across 45,000 sqft over four floors, with private industry houses. The centre is part of IISc and SID’s continuing efforts to bring scientists and industry closer, to reap the benefits of the knowledge capital that exists in the over 2,000-strong IISc community.
“Scientists often work in isolation. They find it difficult to sell innovations to industry. We do it for them and also take care of issues like technology transfer and intellectual property rights,’’ says chief executive officer of SID and IISc professor S. Mohan.
On the flip side, SID also facilitates research interests of private or public enterprises which want to capitalise on the knowledge at IISc, rather than invest in in-house R&D programmes.
According to director Prof. Goverdhan Mehta, IISc now has a turnover of projects worth Rs 20 crore per annum, with SID facilitating nearly Rs 15 crore. “These initiatives are not aimed to reduce support from the government, but to promote entrepreneurship and augment IISc’s resources,’’ he says.