Startup Village Kochi | India's first PPP Telecom Incubator Zone

[mohammedirshad06]

This Thread is to discuss about Startup Village and its startup ventures, which is India's first Telecom Incubator Hub, meant to create a Silicon Coast in next 10 years, with more than 1000 a billion dollar worth companies, by grooming entrepreneurs and encouraging telecom oriented technology start ups.

The facility is located in KINFRA Hitech Park; Kalamassery; Kochi

[mohammedirshad06]

News about Start Up Village

The innovative zone and training centre at the first Startup Village which is to be opened from mid April, will provide a platform to students to exploit their ideas and skills in the telecom sector.

With `100 crore, the Startup Village has chalked out a roadmap to incubate and develop 1000 student startups over the next 10 years.

A three-member team lead by Startup Village CEO Sijo George will moderate the students programme.

“We’re employing peerlearning and are organising sessions. However, it’s more of self-learning,” said Sijo.

The team will also encourage students take up MIT and Stanford online classes and get certificates.

An outreach campaign to connect with vibrant students has been planned by signing up with all the engineering colleges in the state. Around 50 students can be accommodated at a time and it does not have a time schedule. A laboratory will be set up where students can develop technology and start applications in cutting-edge technology.

Multiple handsets will be provided and machines will be purchased with the fund from the Department of Science and Technology, he said.

Sony Joy, CEO of MobMe, the private partner of the Startup said, “We are planning to organise programmes in all the engineering colleges in the state to create awareness on incubators and ecosystem.” “We have established ourselves after starting as a startup when incubators were just coming up.
When we were in the third year at College of Engineering, we approached Technopark and were the first group to get the incubator facility. Unlike the past, parents are not averse to entrepreneurship,” he said.
When a group of students want to develop their idea into a product and market it, Startup offers them all the support, he added.

While there are more than 6000 startup in US and China, India has only about 60, he said.

CNN IBN

Startup Village is India’s first public-private partnership startup incubator for the telecom industry. The incubator has a corpus of Rs. 100 crores (US$ 19.616 million) and plans to invest in 1,000 student startups over 10 years. To emphasize, Startup Village is for student startups only. The incubator is based out of India’s southern state of Kerala and has some marquee names as mentors like Sunil Kalra, Rajan Anandan and Alok Bajpai.

Startup Village constituents include the National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), the Department of Science and Technology (DST), the government of India, Technopark and MobME Wireless.

Not Just Money

Startup Village is not just about the Rs. 100 crore corpus. In fact, that is the least important aspect. The student startups will be exposed to the latest and greatest telecom gear in the advanced labs. The whole campus is 4G enabled. Most importantly chief-mentor Kris Gopalakrishnan from Infosys will add immense value to the the program for student entrepreneurs. Other people involved have the connections to bring in investments, as necessary.

Companies incubated in the village will get a 3-year tax exemption for revenues up to Rs. 50 lakh (US$ 5 million). Mobme, a successful student startup, will provide the technical support.

Other perks include legal services, accounting services, intellectual property services, computers, phone lines, video conferencing rooms, huge discounts on server space, office space, and virtual office services.

Startup Village should take some heat away from the eCommerce space and put the heat back where it belongs: Telecom (apps and more).

One Question, Though

Startup Village wants to find the next billion dollar company. My question: Are billion dollar companies found through incubators? Or do they just happen, and investors will be lucky to stumble on them? I believe the latter is true. What do you think?

I have the same question for innovation too. Can it be carefully engineered?

Techwireasia

Startup Village, purported to be the country's first technology business incubator in telecom, is preparing to take off in Kerala.

Also the first public-private partnership incubator, it will go on stream in Kochi in early April with a projected investment of Rs 100 crore.

At least 1,000 student startups are expected to set up base here, Chief Minister, Mr Oommen Chandy, announced in New Delhi.

National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB) and Kerala Government-run Technopark are the promoters.

MobME Wireless, a student start-up and has grown to become one of the country's top-10 emerging companies, will be the private partner.

The project will seek to transform the State into a ‘Silicon Coast,' an official spokesman quoted Mr Chandy as saying.

Among those present with him were Dr Kiran Karnik, former president of Nasscom; Dr H. K. Mittal of the Department of Science and Technology; Mr Rajan Mathews, Director-General, Cellular Operators Association of India; Mr Abhishek Goyal, Chief Executive Officer, UrbanTouch.com; and Mr Sanjay Vijayakumar, Chairman of the Board of Governors, Startup Village.

FIRST STEPS

Technopark took its first steps into incubation when MobME Wireless, promoted by then engineering students, was launched in 2006.

The Technopark incubator quickly rose in six years to become one of the most prominent national technology incubators.

It also won the President's award for best technology business incubator in the country for 2008.

There are now 125 companies here employing 3,000 people and generating Rs 100 crore in annual revenue, Mr Chandy said.

Mr Kris Gopalakrishnan, Co-Founder of Infosys, would be the Chief Mentor for the startups at the Village.

The telecom and information technology industry has extended support to this venture, the official spokesman said.

Among those likely to join as mentors or investors are: Dr Kiran Karnik; Mr Abhishek Goyal; Mr Sharad Sharma, former CEO, Yahoo India R& D; Mr Ganesh Lakshminarayan, Managing Director, Dell India; Mr K. K. Natarajan of Mindtree; Mr Arun Kumar, Global Board Member of KPMG; Dr Ravi Pillai, the biggest employer of Indians in West Asia ; and Mr K. Nanda Kumar, CEO and President, SunTec Business Solutions.

The Hindu Businessline

[mohammedirshad06]

Startup Village Inaugurated

Kris Gopalakrishnan, Infosys Co-founder, planting a spaling at the Startup Village campus at Kinfra Park, Kalamassery, on Sunday

Startup Village, India's first telecom business incubator under public-private partnership, will be a turning point in Kerala's development, Infosys co-founder and chief mentor of the venture Kris Gopalakrishnan has said.

Inaugurating the incubator — which envisions setting up at least 1,000 student startups — at Kinfra Park, Kalamassery, on Sunday, Mr. Gopalakrishnan termed the endeavour as a landmark in the State's growth.

“The change taking place in the State has not been understood by many. Technopark's stupendous success has not brought about a change in people's perception. Startup projects need a conducive ecosystem to flourish. Besides enhancing budding entrepreneurs' confidence and potential for success, it also helps fashion ideas,” he said.

“Lack of adequate finance impedes entrepreneurship, but Startup helps budding entrepreneurs tide over that,” Mr. Gopalakrishnan said.

Later, he planted a sapling on the village campus, the first of 1,000 saplings being planted there.

IT Secretary P.H. Kurian extended all support to the project and said there would be no roadblocks from the government's side for launching projects.

“Presently, the State has an atmosphere conducive for accelerated growth,” he said.

KSIDC managing director Alkesh Sarma said that Kerala had not lost even a single working day last year.

“However, people outside do not understand this. ‘Emerging Kerala' would be organised in the State next year in view of the change in the State's investment scene,” he pointed out.

Cusat Vice-Chancellor Ramachandran Thekkedath; entrepreneur Ravi Pillai; scientist B.K. Shukla of the Union Department of Science and Technology; TiE Kerala president John Paul; and Startup Village governing council chairman Sanjay Vijaykumar spoke.

The village envisages leveraging the impending explosive growth in smart phones and 4G to incubate the next 1,000 startups in India.

The scheme aims to transform job seekers into job creators.

It was set up collaboratively by the National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB) under the Department of Science and Technology and the Kerala government-run Technopark, in association with MobME Wireless – a private firm which began as a student start-up and has grown to become one of India's top 10 emerging companies.

The Hindu

[mohammedirshad06]

[mohammedirshad06]

The start up Village campus at Hitech Park

[mohammedirshad06]

Inauguration Pics

[Malayaali]

Great thread MI

[mohammedirshad06]

Startup Village boosts up new dreams for Emerging Kerala

Startup Village, a technology business incubator formed through a public-private partnership to promote technology startups, will rope in investments of Rs 100 crore and nurture 1,000 startups in the next ten years, said Sanjay Vijayakumar, CEO of wireless solutions startup MobMe Wireless Solutions, on Sunday.

Infosys Technologies co-chairman Kris Gopalakrishnan, who will serve as chief mentor, launched the Startup Village at the Kinfra Hi-Tech Park in Kalamassery near Kochi on Sunday. It will primarily serve as a telecom innovation hub. Sanjeev Vijayakumar is the chairman of the board of governors of the Startup Village.

Built on 15,000 sq ft of space, Startup Village is jointly promoted by the National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), the Department of Science and Technology, government of India, and Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram, besides MobMe Wireless and other private parties.

Kris Gopalakrishnan said the Startup Village is an indicator of the state's transformation into an industrial powerhouse. "Kerala's Technopark is probably one of the most successful tech parks in the country, but nobody really talks about it," Gopalakrishnan said.

He said the state has slowly been putting in place all the ingredients to build a successful entrepreneurial ecosystem. "The four key ingredients: innovation, education, research and entrepreneurship to create a good business development ecosystem are now falling in place. This will help to change popular misconceptions about Kerala as a business-unfriendly state," Gopalakrishnan said.

It has been confirmed that when the right people come together, the possibility of success improves dramatically. "Startup Village is an attempt to bring the right people together in the process of incubating companies with great ideas," Gopalakrishnan said.

Cusat vice-chancellor Ramachandran Thekkedath suggested that the Startup Village must also look at the possibility of incubating entrepreneurial ventures and ideas from older and retired professionals as well who are no less creative than their younger counterparts.

The village will have a 4G network, advanced telecom labs and provide all services including legal, intellectual property and accounting help.

A three-month residential accelerator programme to support entrepreneurs in developing their ideas into products has been initiated. Every company in the programme will receive $10,000 in seed capital along with introductions to network partners, venture capital firms and angel investors, Vijayakumar said.

A $10-million angel investment fund is also being set up under the guidance of KPMG to invest $50,000-$500,000 in high-growth startups.

[mohammedirshad06]

Originally Posted by Malayaali

Great thread MI

We need a dedicated thread, because it should not be mixed up with Infopark. The scope and even locations are different.

Secondly in days to come, we are likely to hear more stories... I pray for more positive stories, as seeds are sown now......... Perhaps who knows, one of this might be Infosys or Wipro etc....

Best of luck for the incubatees!!!

[agnath.]

have they created any website for the startup village ? anybody know where to find more information about the startup village ?

[Malayaali]

Originally Posted by agnath.

have they created any website for the startup village ? anybody know where to find more information about the startup village ?

MI has already provided it at the top.

www.startupvillage.in

[agnath.]

Originally Posted by Malayaali

MI has already provided it at the top.

www.startupvillage.in

Had missed that , thanks malayaali ....

[Malayaali]

Idea whose time is wow

Sanjay (second from left) with his core team.

For the newly-launched Startup Village at the KINFRA Park in Kochi, the first public-private telecom incubator in the country, its 26-year-old chairman is a walking advertisement.

Sanjay Vijayakumar, who bunked classes while studying in the Engineering College, Thiruvananthapuram, in order to launch his own mobile solutions company, is now calling college students to emulate his example, though not necessarily by skipping classes.

The CEO of MobME Wireless promises to extend all help to anybody with a bright idea including money and moral support.

It’s almost as though the man who achieved a market capitalisation of Rs 100 crore for the first student initiative to be incubated in Thiruvananthapuram’s Technopark is cocking a snook at naysayers in a State famous for having missed the bus of industrialisation because of its business-unfriendly attitude.

MobMe will join hands with the National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB) and Technopark to run the village with Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan as the chief mentor.

“Our country is getting increasingly young. It is the 20-24 age group that can think out of the box. You can’t predict which idea will succeed but we need to create an eco-system where ideas can flourish,” he says and goes on to explain how it is an idea whose time is now.

Smartphones have taken over our lives and Kerala not only boasts of high literacy but also high tele-density. The target is ambitious: 1,000 college startups in 10 years.

Why does he think college students can be the drivers of the revolution that he dreams about? “If you look at the software revolution of the 70s, Dell, HP, Microsoft and Apple were all college start-ups. In the 90s, you had Google and Yahoo and then came Facebook and Angry Birds.

All were founded by students and that’s why an academic link-up is vital for industry,” he says. A policy change is on the anvil; the same incentives given to those students who pursue sports will be extended to student entrepreneurs.

“If a college student starts a company, which gets incubated, he will be eligible for 20 per cent attendance and four per cent marks,” says Sanjay.

In the race to reach the top of the pyramid, he says, becoming an IT/telecom entrepreneur could well be the new vehicle for Keralites, who have been riding the Gulf dream and the IT job dream so far.

Among the first companies to be incubated in the Startup Village are Wowmakers, a design studio, and Mind Helix, a mobile applications company.

“We have about 28 applications in the last eight days,” says Sanjay.

“You can go on waiting for investment to come in from outside but it is never going to happen.”
Creating wealth may be an art but how does someone as young as him spend it?

“When we started out as entrepreneurs and money started pouring in, we splurged and had a lot of fun but then the craze waned.

Now, I interact with people like Kris Gopalakrishnan who have generated a lot of wealth but lead simple lives.

What we do now is to give scholarships to college cowboys who are different and young sportsmen who are needy,” he says.

His company has a fleet of sedans but he is happy to own just a couple of Santros.

If the dashing bachelor has one complaint about Kerala – which he thinks has enough potential to be the next Silicon coast – it is that youngsters have few opportunities for entertainment. But he makes up for it when he travels abroad. “We really party hard,” he chuckles.

[Malayaali]

The 2 Startups

[Malayaali]

Startup Village to conduct workshop on Intellectual Property Rights

Startup Village, India’s first telecom incubator, and Inolyst, a leading intellectual property consulting company, will be organising a one-day awareness workshop on Intellectual Property Strategies for Start-ups in association with Nasscom, Kinfra and TiE on May 05, 2012 at their premises in the Kinfra Hi-Tech Park in Kochi. The event will be open to both incubate companies, companies which have applied for incubation and entrepreneurs who wish to associate with Startup Village.

This workshop is intended to provide a clear picture for technology-driven start-up companies on business expertise necessary to manage their Intellectual Property assets as business assets. The workshop will also advise the participants on protecting and creating new intellectual property assets and on how to manage and monetize their existing intellectual property assets.

Sijo Kuruvilla George, CEO, Startup Village said, “A carefully crafted IP strategy, coupled with the informed use of IP rights, is pivotal to organisations of all sizes. Entrepreneurs should make decisions early on about what is vital in terms of intellectual property and take concrete steps to assert ownership, create proof of ownership and retain ownership. This would benefit the start-ups in acquiring customers and also in getting better terms and valuations from venture capitals”.

Inolyst, a rapidly growing Intellectual Property consulting firm in India, is the IP partner of Startup Village. The company will offer its IP expertise to Startup Village through trainings and workshops for the incubated start-ups and helping them build strong strategic IP portfolios.

Dilip Kumar, Founder, Inolyst said, "We are really excited to be a part of Startup Village which is on the lines of our vision towards building a strong ecosystem for innovative start-ups and thus increasing the global entrepreneurial class.”

Startup Village is India's first Public Private Partnership model Technology Business Incubator. The promoters of Startup Village are Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India; Technopark Trivandrum and MobME Wireless.

[Malayaali]

[ak.army]

Canadian Government to partner with Startup Village

Kochi: In a cross-border collaboration that would give a major boost to Startup Village, the Canadian Government has expressed keenness to forge partnerships with India’s first public private partnership model technology business incubator, for mutual benefits. A visiting Canadian Government delegation, comprising Ms. Sara Wilshaw, Minister (Commercial) and Ms. Ivy Lerner-Frank, First Secretary, Education, Science & Technology, was highly impressed by the technologically updated infrastructure at the Startup Village.

The representatives also appreciated the fact that Startup Village was being mentored by Kris Gopalakrishnan, who ranks among India’s most successful entrepreneurs. Also, Annie Mathews, Head - Developer Relations of RIM, a Canadian company, is among the Advisory Council of Startup Village.

Sanjay Vijayakumar, Chairman, Startup Village, said, “This marks the start of a long journey where we are working hard to help incubate technology product start-ups in our country. With the partnership with Government of Canada, we would be able to bring high quality technology that can be leveraged by start-ups to build products that are globally scalable. The exposure to technology for Indian start-ups in partnership with global companies like RIM from Canada would get a big boost with Ms. Wilshaw's visit to Startup Village.”

The Canadian Government already works with venture capital community and incubators such as Grow Labs at Vancouver and Extreme Startups at Ontario, Canada.

Sijo Kuruvilla, CEO, Startup Village was also present during the discussions with the Canadian representatives.

[mohammedirshad06]

Originally Posted by ak.army

Canadian Government to partner with Startup Village

Link

Really good to hear, with lot of positive buzz..... I expect, someday, we may get a future Infosys or Wipro, from this facility, keeping the name of Kochi to new level heights.....

[Malayaali]

KloudPad looking at the Start-up Village for their R & D centre

KloudPad, an Android 4 capacitive tablet with built-in 3G phone, was launched by Chief Minister Shri Oommen Chandy in Trivandrum on May 21, 2012. A product of the UK based KloudPad, the tablet will be available through the online tech store, slatestore.in. The company is a start-up by Abbishek Jayaraj Shikky and his brother, Aromal, from Kochi whose roots are in Thiruvananthapuram. One of the reasons why the tablet had its international launch here!

According to Abbishek, Founder, KloudPad, “KloudPad is India's first Android 4 capacitive tablet with built-in 3G for Rs. 9,999/-. 3G is for the masses not a privileged few and KloudPad comes bundled with content relevant to India. This combination makes this tab different from others. For example, we want the students to move from a laptop to this tablet which comes preloaded with CBSE & ICSE course content.”

KloudPad runs on a Cortex-A8 1.2GHz processor and has a 7" capacitive display (800 x 480), Android 4.0, 512 MB RAM, WiFi & 3G, dual cameras and HDMI & USB ports. It has 4GB internal memory extendable up to 32 GB (Micro SD). KloudPad has tied up with Attano for educational course content; Medical & Engineering sample test papers, etc. The tab also comes preloaded with Attano eBook App and Edu TV.

Aromal Jayaraj Shikky, Director, KloudPad UK, “Kloudpad is now targeted at students as an educational tab. Because of the cost, the value for money they will get is great. We will be soon coming out with customised solutions for the medical, legal and hospitality sectors.”

KloudPad was started by the brothers in 2010 in Canterbury, England and was incubated by the Kent Chamber of Commerce. They also got research grants from Innovate UK. With inputs from the Engineering Department of University of Greenwich, the company launched its first product, Kloudpad Bolt, in 2011. The company is now looking at the Start-up Village in Kochi to start their R & D centre to research on enhancing the recharge cycles.

KloudPad has a local tie-up for service and support and has already presence in Kochi and Kozhikode. The Thiruvananthapuram centre will be launched next month.

[Malayaali]

Workshop on open BTS
Date: 26th May 2012
Time: 2pm - 5pm