Kerala has a strong foundation for technology incubation. The first step in this direction was the establishment of the Technopark-Technology Business Incubator in Trivandrum. The state is now ready for the next step- an ambitious plan of nurturing 1,000 student start-ups in the next 10 years through the first ever telecom ‘start- up village’ coming up at Kochi. The Startup Village is the country’s first Public Private Telecom business incubator. The National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board, the Department of Science and Technology, the government of India, Technopark and MobME Wireless have joined hands to set up the project. MobMe Wireless is a private firm which began as a student start-up at Technopark-Technology Business Incubator. Kris Goplakrishnan, co- chairman of the country’s second largest software exporter, Infosys, is the chief mentor for start-ups. The State-owned Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation aims at bringing together all the suitable resources available in the state and developing infrastructure to woo the industrial growth of the state.
Everything a Start Up Needs
The Rs 100-crore public-private partnership incubator will have full 4G network, advanced telecom labs and will also provide all services that are required for a student to start a company even while in college. These include facilities such as furnished office space, video conference rooms, computers, phone lines, internet, server space and virtual office services. Legal, intellectual property and accounting services will also be provided. In addition, Smart Home Office Units will enable young entrepreneurs to live, work and play in the same space. This will create the right environment to build and innovate. Start Ups will be admitted only in groups, at specific times of the year. Since the Startup Village is an early stage platform, the emphasis will be on selecting great teams who are passionate about an idea, and have the will to move upwards no matter how rough the terrain. The admitted groups will go through a three month intensive training programme during which prototypes of their ideas will be built. These will then be shown to potential investors. The incubator also has plans to spread to other cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Gurgaon and Bangalore. This is needed as Startup companies will eventually have to move to other cities as their business grows in India and so it makes sense to have a common platform in these cities to reduce costs.
Hi Growth Area
The Telecom Industry is a hi-growth area, thanks to increasing mobile penetration, the shift in consumer preference from PCs to smart phones and tablets, and in mobile usage from voice to data related services. All this requires device makers, service providers and application developers- areas in which start up companies can make their mark, The Startup Village aims to kick start a billion-dollar company from a college campus by the turn of this decade. It will provide a vibrant ecosystem for start-ups to create breakthrough technologies for the global telecommunications industry, and to transform Kerala into the ‘Silicon Coast’ of tomorrow.
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