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Programs

 

The entrepreneurship courses are complemented by experiential learning in various aspects of product innovation and business lifecycle through mentoring programs offered by DSSE, supported by partner organizations.

 

Key mentoring programs include I-NCUBATE for market research, supported by GDC of IIT Madras; IDEAS-MAP for minimum viable product development, supported by Class of 1990 alumni of IIT Bombay; and I-WiE for encouraging women in entrepreneurship, supported by CGI.

 
I-NCUBATE

 

I-NCUBATE is the flagship program of Gopalakrishnan-Deshpande Centre for Innovation and

Entrepreneurship (GDC), IIT Madras, which enables faculty and researchers to take ideas from the laboratories to the marketplace. The GDC team conducts the program at IIT Bombay in association with DSSE. The teams obtain evidence-based validation of their ideas by interacting with at least 100 potential customers, and formulate business plans to tap the market opportunity.

 

The program involves seven-week engagement of participating teams with GDC instructors. Each team comprises two or more researchers guided by a faculty member, who are mentored by an industry professional. A typical cohort has 10-15 teams.

 

The program starts with a kick-off meeting, where teams present their business ideas and go-to-market propositions. The GDC instructors prepare customer interaction plans for each team. Then the teams interview at least 100 potential customers over the next 6 weeks. There are weekly webinars attended by all teams to discuss the progress. The program concludes with a two-day meeting, where teams present their experiences and business models. 

 

The participants benefit from a deep understanding of product-market fit and gap based on first-hand feedback obtained from customers. They can define the minimum viable product and refine the value proposition, as well as take a go/no-go decision based on market viability and business model. Upon successful completion, each team is eligible for reimbursement of their travel expenses up to a limit of Rs. 175,000.

 

During 2018-2019, two cohorts of total 21 teams participated in the program at IIT Bombay. The GDC team also conducts the program at IIT Madras, IIT Delhi and IISc Bangalore.

 

IDEAS-MAP

 

Innovation, Development and Entrepreneurship with Alumni Support (IDEAS) is a legacy project of Class of 1990 alumni of IIT Bombay. Their Mentoring by Alumni Program (MAP) provides accelerated hands-on learning to aspiring entrepreneurs among students. It is meant for under-graduate as well as post-graduate students of IIT Bombay across all disciplines. 

 

The teams are selected based on their proposal and presentation to a jury panel. Micro-grants and mentoring enable rapid progress from discovering unmet needs to evolving a product and business plan. Successful teams can approach IRCC for patent filing and SINE or any other business incubator to incubate their start-up company.

 

There are two levels of IDEAS-MAP. Level-1 is for a duration of 3 months (across winter or summer vacation) for market immersion and interviews. The student teams are expected to discover unmet needs, identify customer segments, validate solution concepts and evaluate the problem-solution fit.

 

MAP Level-2 is for a duration of 12 months, for student teams to develop working prototypes of novel concepts, check the product-market fit through feedback from potential customers and other stakeholders, and evolve preliminary business models.

 

The teams are mentored by alumni, faculty and DSSE managers. Each cohort starts with a kick-off workshop, followed by fortnightly review meetings and concludes with final presentations. The cost of travel, consumables and prototyping are covered through micro-grants up to Rs. 50,000 for Level-1 and up to Rs. 200,000 for Level-2.

 

Since its inception in 2018, MAP has benefited two cohorts of total 27 students at Level-1, and one cohort of 9 students at Level-2.

 

I-WiE

 

The Indian Women in Entrepreneurship (I-WiE) program encourages and supports aspiring women entrepreneurs. It is supported by CGI’s CSR program. The program is primarily meant for under-graduate and post-graduate students across all disciplines, as well as staff and residents of IIT Bombay. Students and aspiring women entrepreneurs from outside IIT Bombay are also encouraged to team up. 

Participants attend bootcamps, workshops and fireside chats with women leaders to build relevant skills. Further support includes mentoring by industry professionals, visits to start-ups and internships. Seed grants will be provided to promising teams for converting their ideas into products and for creating business plans to market the products.  

The program also aims to build a community of women interested in entrepreneurship and leadership roles to build strong bonds and lifelong friendships. This will become a great resource to form future partnerships, seek constructive advice, and access a highly effective network. 

The program was launched in August 2019, with a scintillating talk by Devdutt Pattnaik and panel discussion hosted by IITB alumnus Anu Narasimhan that was attended by over 100 participants. A series of workshops to empower women entrepreneurs are being conducted, such as design thinking, legal aspects, finance, communication and leadership.

 

Other Programs
Asian Universities Alliance

This program provides a first-hand multi-cultural exposure to concepts of innovation, incubation and entrepreneurship through a series of classroom lectures and field visits for the participants. As a part of this program, DSSE team organized a week-long immersion in IIT Bombay during 1-7 July 2019 for 18 students from eight AUA Universities including Nazarbayev University, University of Colombo, Seoul National University, University of Tokyo, University of Indonesia, United Arab Emirates University, University of Malaya and IIT Bombay. They visited SINE business incubator, Ignition Studio for proof-of-concept and prototype fabrication, Tata Centre for Technology and Design, and Tinkerers’ Lab in IITB. Field visits included IT industry leader Tata Consulting Services and a start-up company Drona Aviation, as well as city tour of Mumbai. The lecture sessions covered innovation trail, business fundamentals, new product development, business model canvas, marketing, creativity, communication and business plan pitching. The participants worked in teams to develop a business plan on a hypothetical product idea.

CEP/QIP in Entrepreneurship

This is a 5-day continuing education program for teachers, innovation/incubation managers and administrators from academic institutes to strengthen the entrepreneurship courses and programs in their institutions. The participants learn the best practices of translational research, product innovation and business incubation from experienced faculty and industry leaders. Visits are arranged to different inter-disciplinary centres developing innovative products and technologies. Participants also get a first-hand exposure to the entrepreneurial ecosystem in IIT Bombay, by interacting with start-ups teams working on live projects. The first program was organized during 14-18 March 2017, under the aegis of TEQIP, Ministry of HRD, New Delhi. It benefited over 50 participants, most of them teachers at technical institutes across the country.  

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