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Two IITs, three IIMs collaborate to collate data on start-ups, innovations - Times of India

MUMBAI: Professors from the premier IITs and IIMs have come together in a unique collaboration to collect data on start-ups that can be shared with a wider audience and can be used in formulating policies. The consortium called the ‘Innovation-Venturing and Entrepreneurship in India Network,’ (iVEIN), with its founding members from IIT-Madras, IIT-Bombay, IIM-Bangalore, IIM-Calcutta and IIM-Kozhikode, will help boost the Indian entrepreneurship ecosystem.

The network also promises to create a much-needed academic repository of innovations in the country. It plans to compile data not only from their own institutions but from incubators across the country. Stakeholders such as incubators, investment managers, institutions, policy-makers, entrepreneurs are free to join the network to facilitate and promote collaborative research. B Ravi, professor from IIT-Bombay, said that there is a need to bring in all the stakeholders together to find the best practices in different places and to implement it on a larger scale. “It is important to have data-based policies for start-ups. The database can also be shared with a wider audience,” he said. The proposed network will create a strategic bridge between stakeholders, strengthen the ecosystem and synthesise knowledge that exist in silos, he added.

The consortium was launched recently during the ‘Dialogue with Stakeholders’ event held by IIT-Bombay’s Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE). A Thillai Rajan, professor from IIT-Madras, who is con-ordinating the initiative, said that innovation, venturing and entrepreneurship is getting increased attention from policymakers. “These areas are expected to play a key role in the economic growth of the country. The iVEIN network will facilitate high-quality research in this field among the academic fraternity in the country and create avenues for dissemination of the relevant knowledge through conferences and published journals,” said the professor.

While several government initiatives and institutions are making some attempts in tracking start-ups, iVEIN promises to track the segment and even develop a holistic and analytical narrative on the changing aspects that drive development in the area. Some of the objectives of the consortium

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Create an interdisciplinary body of knowledge with multiple perspectives to meet requirements of researchers, students, policy-makers, entrepreneurs • Seed the creation of a society to organise annual conferences, publish a journal, architect a repository of innovations • Help in effective policy formulation at various levels • Track innovation and entrepreneurship segment in the country