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

[sree_ec]

Originally Posted by induzcreed

IBM had solid plans to start an SDC at Kochi for some time. There was space crunch at Infopark and then there was a series of issues ... feud and row over smartcity/ cybercity etc..thought we lost this. They could not seroed in a right place in Kochi i guess! Refer my post in 26 April 2011 at Infopark thread.
I believe innovation cannot happen without solid research and development.. A 100cr investment not required for a training lab in Kochi ...what's your say?

What is it if not a training lab.
What do they do in the innovation centre?
I dont think RIM has not created any jobs yet.. They have not invested 100c also...
So whats IBM going to do in "Start up village" with this investment?

I just dont seem to understand many things

[Kochi Resident]

Maybe they will start like what Wipro and TCS did in just one portion and then expand their campus once they get space and when the other IT parks like IP Phase II start full fledged construction. After that they might vacate Start Up Village. Same with Cognizant which started in Technopolis and now expanded to Athulya and now they are building a campus in IP Phase II

Originally Posted by sree_ec

What is it if not a training lab.
What do they do in the innovation centre?
I dont think RIM has not created any jobs yet.. They have not invested 100c also...
So whats IBM going to do in "Start up village" with this investment?

I just dont seem to understand many things

[e_arunsid]

Kochi Startup Village to have 2,000 IT firms

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 18 (IANS) Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy Tuesday said that in three years, 2,000 IT firms will be incubated at the Startup Village in Kochi, which has already opened.

Startup Village is India's first public private partnership model technology business incubator.

The promoters of Startup Village are Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, Technopark and MobME Wireless.

"They had approached us at the Emerging Kerala meet and requested one lakh square feet of built-up space. We decided to give then 25,000 sq ft in the first phase by May 13 next year and the rest 75,000 sq ft by January 2014. In three years there would be 2,000 IT firms that would be incubated there," said Chandy.

He added that this is a programme where fresh engineering graduates of engineering colleges or students can come up with bright ideas to make it a commercial venture.

"Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder and co-chairman of Infosys, is part of the people behind the Startup Village. Our aim is to turn bright young engineering professional into job creators, not job seekers," said Chandy.

The Village is equipped with 4G network, telecom labs, innovation zones, legal and intellectual property services, fully furnished offices and video conference rooms.

The Village provides a slew of incentives, such as a three-year service tax holiday and funding opportunities for tech start-ups.

[e_arunsid]

Originally Posted by sree_ec

What is it if not a training lab.
What do they do in the innovation centre?
I dont think RIM has not created any jobs yet.. They have not invested 100c also...
So whats IBM going to do in "Start up village" with this investment?

I just dont seem to understand many things

Even I m not able to understand the numbers here..100 Cr from IBM..100 Cr from RIM.....This concep is a bit confusing for me..May be some expert can explain it

[sree_ec]

When approached the startup village 2-3 months back, they told us that they are unable to incubate any new firms now because of space crunch. instead, they are runinng virtual incubation program, where you would be incubated and given the address of start up village but no space.

[e_arunsid]

Originally Posted by sree_ec

When approached the startup village 2-3 months back, they told us that they are unable to incubate any new firms now because of space crunch. instead, they are runinng virtual incubation program, where you would be incubated and given the address of start up village but no space.

Thats Strange...Why cant they build a 3-5L SQFT Structure ...Coz it has attracted some of the big names in the industry.

[sree_ec]

they have a big building (the building which you see in most of the start up village pics) but it was no where near ready that time. I dont know the status now. Recently, in the movie "Run baby Run" that building was shown as the office of "bharatvision channel". So I assume ,its not completed yet. One good news is that, 100s of companies are waiting on the wings to start incubation.

[mohdshanil]

Originally Posted by sree_ec

they have a big building (the building which you see in most of the start up village pics) but it was no where near ready that time. I dont know the status now. Recently, in the movie "Run baby Run" that building was shown as the office of "bharatvision channel". So I assume ,its not completed yet. One good news is that, 100s of companies are waiting on the wings to start incubation.

The building was ready long back...its used as Biotechnology park...

[mohammedirshad06]

Kochi, where future lies for the entrepreneurs

Kalamassery in Kochi is known for its chemical and fertilizer factories (or what remains of them), but it is in this incongruous setting that student start-up incubator Startup Village has chosen to locate its office.

Physically, it’s hard to miss the glass-and-steel building standing amid the lush green foliage abutting the highway that connects the city to its international airport, although, at first sight it looks more like a holiday resort than the office of a company that aims to create 1,000 software product companies in India in 10 years.

You read that right, 1,000 in 10.

And you read that right too: software product companies.

There’s also a subsidiary objective: to create India’s first billion-dollar firm founded on a college campus.

Inside the building (which is actually not very big), a narrow corridor flanked by life-size portraits of Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Sean Parker and Mark Zuckerberg leads to four dining halls. Each hall has several long tables. And around each are huddled students who want to be entrepreneurs. One hall also sports a portrait of Infosys Ltd co-founder S. ‘Kris’ Gopalakrishnan, arguably the most famous man from Kerala in technology, and a message from him: “We started Infosys in a room of about this size; it’s your turn now.”
Gopalakrishnan is a mentor of Startup Village, a technology incubator promoted by India’s department of science and technology and Technopark Trivandrum that follows Silicon Valley’s Y Combinator model. Y Combinator is a Silicon Valley-based start-up accelerator founded by Paul Graham that has turned unknown coders into geek-celebrities by offering seed funding of around $18,000 (around Rs.10 lakh) on an average, apart from helping them connect with potential investors. Dropbox, Scribd and reddit are among the around 300 companies funded by Y Combinator. Their average valuation? A neat $224 million.

And the holiday resort (fine, budget holiday resort) look isn’t out of place because students will live and work out of the incubator while their start-ups take shape. “I am hoping to create an environment that subsidizes cost of living for these youngsters, gives them a place to eat, work, sleep and create the next Internet companies,” said Freeman Murray, a Silicon Valley veteran and founder of Internet music firm Kendara, who will relocate to Startup Village next week and help the incubator create the Valley culture among student entrepreneurs.

“We are attempting to build an environment where failure is not seen as something negative, but is a learning opportunity. They (the students) all push each other, they all learn from each other,” said Gopalakrishnan.
Since March, when Startup Village was launched, over 250 students from engineering colleges across Kerala who want to be entrepreneurs have applied with their ideas. In October, they will compete for a spot in what aims to become the country’s hottest launchpad for software product firms. For years, India’s $100 billion software outsourcing industry has become more famous for code writing and maintenance projects, with only a handful of home-grown technology product companies (they contributed $1.8 billion in revenue to the total during 2011-2012).

Those selected after rounds of interviews will receive funding of anywhere between $10,000-30,000 to help them start up. They will also get an opportunity to be mentored by successful chief executive officers (CEOs). In return, Startup Village will pick a nominal 6% stake in their companies.
The entrepreneurs will have to raise subsequent rounds to grow their companies.

“Traditional VC (venture capital) money is chasing very elite people who have been successful entrepreneurs in India—I feel there is a great opportunity to make this happen with younger people,” said Murray, who will be Dumbledore to this Hogwarts for start-ups.

The idea came to the founders of MobMe, a start-up founded in 2007 by students of Trivandrum’s College of Engineering. The firm started off orchestrating mobile campaigns for Malayalam films. Today, it works with telcos such as Bharti Airtel Ltd, India’s largest, and will close 2012-13 with Rs.33 crore in revenue.

The founders approached Gopalakrishnan, who liked the story. “That’s what prompted the thought of creating a space where these students can come, experiment and create companies while studying. We are not saying that you should be a dropout; in fact, you shouldn’t,” he said.

And MobMe is a good example for students who want to start a firm. “Our early struggle to scale the idea, finding people who would invest, and later getting business from top clients showed it’s possible,” said Sijo Kuruvilla George, CEO of Startup Village and one of the co-founders of MobMe.
Money and space, apart, Startup Village’s real attractions will likely be its mentors.

Y Combinator brings together the biggest names in the US technology industry such as Gmail creator Paul Buccheit twice a year to help mentor selected start-ups.

Startup Village plans to do the same, but is still hunting for some instantly recognizable global names who can serve as mentors.

“Y Combinator has this strong mentoring access, which is missing here right now. We will need that as some of these companies reach the next stage from idea to some kind of a product,” said Gopalakrishnan.

Apart from Gopalakrishnan, the incubator has managed to sign up MindTree CEO Krishnakumar Natarajan, chairman of the Nasscom product forum Sharad Sharma, and investors such as Sasha Mirchandani of Kae Capital and Nishant Verman of Canaan Partners as mentors.

Nasscom’s Sharma, who ran Yahoo India’s research centre until March 2009, said mentoring could help more student start-ups survive. “In the early days of the accelerator, one needs to establish the operating routines that deliver high quality. Only once that’s in place, should one scale—premature scaling can hurt quality,” he said.

“Globally, it has been noticed that large business ideas like Facebook have came from students. An incubator is a great start and with mentors of proven track record, its credibility can go high. We are looking at investing in Startup Village,” said Mirchandani.

He added that incubators can not only nudge students to start early, but also advise and encourage them to take the plunge when doubts crop up.
To be sure, Startup Village will not be the first attempt to foster entrepreneurship among students. The Wadhwani Foundation-funded National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) runs entrepreneurship cells on 470 campuses across India, although it doesn’t invest in the firms.

K. Srikrishna, executive director of NEN, said his organization focuses on creating entrepreneurs—both students and experienced professionals. Last year, some 270 student entrepreneurs came from the NEN network; this year, he expects to help around 400 student start-ups take shape.

“It’s not really competitive (with other incubators), we do this at a much larger scale and the thrust is on sustaining these entrepreneurs,” Srikrishna said. “We run the world’s largest entrepreneurial education network.”

Startup Village’s unique approach may find favour with potential investors who otherwise have to put student start-ups they like through the paces themselves.

Indeed, it’s possible that Startup Village’s efforts also expands the universe of entrepreneurs because of its focus on engineering students.

The state government seems to have also done its part by announcing a new policy that offers student entrepreneurs 4% weightage in grades (if the total is 100, student entrepreneurs start from 4, while everyone else starts from 0) and 20% in attendance. Successful start-ups also get a three-year tax holiday. “If you are a student and fail early, you are not risking your family or any other thing,” said Gopalakrishnan, arguing that it is better to start young.
Already, over a dozen startups, including MindHelix, a mobile application development firm, and WowMakers, an Internet design studio, operate out of Startup Village and hope to make the October cut.

Kallidil Kalidasan, 23, who founded MindHelix along with two other batchmates in December 2010, is now hoping to take his company to the next stage at Startup Village. “Raising money for a product start-up is quite tough in India. With mentors like Kris and potential investors, Startup Village looks to fill that gap,” he said.

The incubator, itself funded by the department of science and technology, and angel investors such as Kris and MobMe (to the tune of Rs.5 crore), is, in turn, raising a fund of around Rs.10 crore to fund the start-ups it selects.
Some of these, it is convinced, will become successful product firms. Gopalakrishnan is betting that 20 of the 1,000 firms coming out of the incubator will have a chance of becoming the Infosys of the software products business in India.

[sree_ec]

Originally Posted by mohdshanil

The building was ready long back...its used as Biotechnology park...

its the startup village building isnt it? if it is ready, why they are still facing space crunch? or why is this building used for biotech park?

[DileepKS]

It is the other way around. Building was originally made for Biotech park, and later a portion is taken to start the Startup Village.

[Prasanth_KCV]

http://www.mathrubhumi.com/business/...ld-304053.html





Startup village sets to become largest telecom incubator in the world

Government is planning to invest 100 crore to construct 100,000 sqft building

[Malayaali]

World's largest telecom campus in Kerala developed by Startup Village

After the success of the recently concluded 'Emerging Kerala Global Investors' meet, which spelled a bright looking future for the Indian Telecom Industry, Startup Village has now put in its claim to developing the world's largest telecom incubator, where entrepreneurship and innovative technology can be developed through various sponsored projects. This initiative effectively puts Kerala on the world map of technology and student built global products, which were earlier restricted to being a highlight of American corporates only. In order for the innovations to turn to reality, infrastructure will be developed as the 100,000 sqft campus, which is stated to carry an investment of Rs 100 crores for development and functionality. Unlike most projects backed by the government, where project management remains slack, strict deadlines have been dished out regarding the building of the campus; 25,000 sq ft by May 12, 2013, and the remaining 75,000 sq ft by January 12, 2014.

Chief Minister Ooman Chandy who was present at the Investors' meet, spoke about the project and his government's initiative to develop technology innovations within the state through students. He said, "This will make the Startup Village the world’s largest telecom incubator. We will further strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem to accelerate this transformation by providing infrastructure in the form of a TIZ (Technology Innovation Zone) in about 10 acres of land in Kochi with an initial investment of Rs. 100 crores."

Lauding the government’s support, Mr. Sanjay Vijayakumar, Chairperson of Governing Board of Startup Village, said it would give a huge fillip to the state for tapping its vast human resource potential. The various waves of computing like personal computer revolution in the 1970s and ’80s saw the emergence of Apple and Microsoft. The Internet revolution spurred the birth of companies like Yahoo and Google. During the social networking revolution, global giant Facebook was born.

“The key link between all these companies was that the founders of these companies were college students,” said Mr. Vijayakumar, who is also the CEO of MobME Wireless Solutions (P) Ltd. “It's a known fact that out of the Nasscom Top 10 Emerge Product Companies, four have founders from Kerala. Startup Village received over 250 applications in the last five months since its inauguration by Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan. It is now trending to cross 900-1200 applications in the next 9-12 months showing the underlying surge for entrepreneurship in Kerala college campuses,” he said.

The PPP model experiment by Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India, is now taking a major upswing with the state government actively stepping in to aim at a global scale. Both governments have stressed that they would limit their role to a facilitator, creating the right foundation and policies and leaving it to industry experts like Mr. Gopalakrishnan to create the framework for the startup ecosystem. TIZ is proposed to host more initiatives like the Startup Village on a PPP mode in other technology areas and verticals in Telecom, Data Analytics, Animation and Gaming, VLSI, Nanotechnology and Biotechnology. The zone will provide space at a low cost to the startup companies, which would have to pay only the operational cost. Government will manage the infrastructure and the innovator units will have 100% operational freedom to pursue their novel ideas and graduate into independent businesses.

Startup Village sets eyes on becoming largest telecom incubator

Enthused by a tremendous response from the State government at the just-concluded Emerging Kerala global investors’ meet, Startup Village has now scaled up its ambitions to become the world’s largest telecom incubator while Kerala is set to break into global products space with a soon-to-be-announced Student Entrepreneurship Policy.

Unlike other announcements at the mega event, the one for Startup Village came with specific timelines with first 25,000 sq ft by May 12, 2013 and the remaining 75,000 sq ft by January 12, 2014.

“This will make the Startup Village the world’s largest telecom incubator. We will further strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem to accelerate this transformation by providing infrastructure in the form of a TIZ (Technology Innovation Zone) in about 10 acres of land in Kochi with an initial investment of Rs. 100 crores,’’ Chief Minister Shri Oommen Chandy had announced at the meet.

The CM also assured to put in place ‘a landmark Student Entrepreneurship Policy’ within 30 days, showing his government’s commitment to encourage entrepreneurs at the college level itself. The policy provides 20% attendance and 4% grace marks to students engaged in entrepreneurship during their study.

Lauding the government’s support, Sanjay Vijayakumar, Chairperson of Governing Board of Startup Village, said it would give a huge fillip to the state for tapping its vast human resource potential. Startup Village received over 250 applications in the last five months. It is now trending to cross 900-1200 applications in the next 9-12 months showing the underlying surge for entrepreneurship in Kerala college campuses.

TIZ is proposed to host more initiatives like the Startup Village on a PPP mode in other technology areas and verticals in Telecom, Data Analytics, Animation and Gaming, VLSI, Nanotechnology and Biotechnology. The zone will provide space at a low cost to the start-up companies, which would have to pay only the operational cost. Government will manage the infrastructure and the innovator units will have 100% operational freedom to pursue their novel ideas and graduate into independent businesses.

[sree_ec]

Originally Posted by DileepKS

It is the other way around. Building was originally made for Biotech park, and later a portion is taken to start the Startup Village.

Never knew. Thanks!!

[mohammedirshad06]

How Startup Village plans to tap 1,000 tech innovators

It's raining innovators across college campuses in Kerala. Bringing to the limelight some of the brilliant ideas and innovative projects from campuses is a unique initiative by Startup Village, India's first telecom incubator.

Promoted by the Department of Science and Technology, Technopark Trivandrum and founders of MobME Wireless with Kris, co-founder of Infosys as the chief mentor, the initiative, has launched an ambitious talent hunt.

This initiative plans to groom a billion dollar company from a college campus by the turn of this decade. Startup Village, which received more than 200 applications in just four months, has shortlisted 6 innovative projects for incubation.

"Startup Village is our small way of contributing back to the startup ecosystem that has given us so much and to help spawn the next 1000 tech startups in India and start the search for a billion dollar campus startup," says Sijo Kuruvilla George, CEO, Startup Village.

Lamenting over the inability of India's education system to 'inspire innovative thinking', Startup Village attempts to build confidence among students to build on their innovative ideas.

"The curriculum and the present academic setup do not spark imagination and creativity," points out Sijo Kuruvila.

Startup Village covered 164 engineering colleges in Kerala in its pursuit of unique ideas that can be transformed into real solutions.

Besides partial funding, Startup Village will also provide a slew of perks like platform to incubate the idea and an opportunity to showcase the projects before Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan.

Sijo Kuruvila reveals Startup Village's ambitious plans to tap innovators and entrepreneurs from the student community to herald an innovation culture among students in India...

We also present the top 6 innovative projects, selected by Startup Village for further tech and financial support.



What was the idea behind starting Startup Village? Are you looking at projects only from Kerala?

Every startup needs a lot of support in the early days when everything is so vague, ideas are aplenty and the founder(s) just have an idea and the only capital being the fire he carries in his belly.

When we (the founders of MobME) started our entrepreneurial journey at an age of 21, it was something not really common in our country but over five years, we've grown, with the support of a lot of people in the ecosystem, to become one of India's top 10 Emerging IT companies.

We have not set definitive boundaries in terms of location, we look for innovative and inspired initiatives. It is open to entrepreneurs across India.

1,000 product startups over 10 years: Is this a realistic goal? How will this become a reality?

Yes of course, it is a very realistic goal. We have received more than 200 applicants in just four months. We also are in the planning stages of a few initiatives which would systematically bring about these numbers.



How was the response from students in terms of submitting projects?

Startup Village aims to incubate 1,000 product startups over 10 years and has started the search for a billion dollar company from a college campus by turn of this decade. We have received a very positive response from the young entrepreneur community, we have received more than 200 applications and about 60 of them are incubated.

We have also initiated a campus connect program by which we plan to form a network among the various college campuses, and also making them aware of the Startup Village organisation and inspire innovation and entrepreneurship among the youth.

How many projects did you scrutinise? How was the evaluation done?

As part of the IEEE - Startup Village Student Project Program, we had received over 500 applications of which we shortlisted 25. These 25 applicants made a presentation at Startup Village. After this, the final projects were selected.

The selection was done by a 5-member panel comprising of representatives on behalf of IEEE, Startup Village and MobME.

What do you think about the quality of ideas?

We see a huge untapped potential in the various projects by the startups. With the right guidance and mentoring we are quite confident that these startups can turn out to be big enterprises in the future.

And more strikingly, more than the quality of the ideas, the quality of the talent is what really impressed us. All ideas start small and keep evolving over time and it's the entrepreneurial DNA that makes all the difference.

Can these shortlisted projects be converted into viable, profitable ventures?

Yes, the innovative ideas that the startups have come up with shows great commercial promise and this is where the role of the incubator comes into play.



How long will it take for these products to hit the market?

The startups are at various stages in the development process of their projects. Some are even registered companies with several products out in the market whereas some are just starting out and require more time to bring out their respective finished projects.

What kind of support does Startup Village offer these students?

Startup Village aims to bring four key elements needed for a robust tech startup ecosystem at scale for the first time in India with the following pillars under one umbrella.

1. A policy change in the education system where students in engineering colleges who pursue entrepreneurship get the current benefits that is being extended to sports or NCC. This in Kerala is 20% attendance and 4% marks in the University exams.

2. An incubator which functions as an idea nursery.

a) Hard infrastructure - This includes physical space, power, security, work stations, canteen, conference rooms etc.

b) Soft infrastructure - This includes computers, servers, leased line internet, Wi-Fi, Printer, Scanner, Fax, Phone Lines, Photocopiers, Credit Card Facility, Virtual Office services like receptionist, Mail Box address etc.

c) Support infrastructure - This includes CAs, Lawyers, IPR Consultants, PR Consultants, Mentors etc.

d) Technology infrastructure - This are key technology infrastructure that are supplied to the incubator companies in partnership with technology partners.

3. An accelerator which provides minimum capital and specific support required for the promising ideas that come from the incubator.

4. An angel fund, which can invest in the high growth startups.

With respect to the IEEE - Startup Village Student Project Program, we will be extending financial assistance, access to our device labs and technical mentoring



How keen are students in Kerala to become entrepreneurs?

About 3 in 5 applications are from young student startups. There are more students exploring the startup route.

How innovative and intelligent are students in Kerala compared to other states?

We don't have an exact comparison to the other states, but I have to say that the talent and students in Kerala are uniquely poised to take advantage of the next growth wave in India; which we believe is the creation of a knowledge economy led by product companies.

Four out of the top 10 Nasscom emerging companies had founders from Kerala.



Does our curriculum encourage students to be innovative?

We feel that the curriculum followed by the system of education in India is not updated at the pace which is demanded by the advances in science and technology.

The student community is not open to resources that are required to inspire innovative thinking.

Most strikingly, the curriculum and the present academic setup do not spark imagination and creativity.

Majority of students like to join corporates after engineering though they may have brilliant ideas to work on, how can we bring about a change in the mind-set of young students?

Ventures like Startup village promote the student to bring out their own innovative ideas and even provide the resources they require to do that, including technical assistance as well as mentoring. The key is to unlock the curiosity in the young minds.

And we have realized that exposure, both to markets and technology, is the magic portion. We aim to provide that in abundance at Startup Village.

Parental pressure is one of the issues. Since our parents are used to only getting jobs, it is difficult for them to imagine their children being job creators and not job seekers.

You have set an example with MobME. How is MobME doing? How has been the growth so far in terms of revenues, solutions offered?

MobME was born out of vision where we believed that it's time for being first generation entrepreneurs in our country, a path less trodden for the vast majority in our country.

The backing of media and society was extremely strong and after we took the plunge while being in college to start MobME. Today, there are 136 startups in Technopark Incubator in Thiruvanthapuram.

MobME is today rated as one of India's top 10 Emerging IT companies but we are excited to create ripples in the ecosystem that allows for more startups to grow and flourish.

With Startup Village, we now hope to hit the critical mass required to tilt the scale of innovation and build an awesome entrepreneurial ecosystem complete with a supportive education policy, an incubator (idea nursery), accelerator (help ideas which have either user or revenue traction) and angel fund (where you invest small amounts of money in return for single digit equity holdings and act more like a co-founder) thus creating an extremely entrepreneur friendly ecosystem that invites you to build, break and innovate.

What are the challenges you face?

While setting up Startup Village, India's largest incubation attempt, the scale of operation we envisioned for ourselves was colossal. In order to again the flexibility to pursue such an ambition, it is critical to have the right partners on board who understands this.

Gaining the support and guidance from the government of India, established industrialists, reputed corporate institutions, and key educational institutions, their startup ecosystems and media has assisted us to gain our current momentum and accelerate forward.

It was equally important for Startup Village to have the ideal talent pool for executing its action plan. At Startup Village, we are leveraging on the foundation laid by Technopark Incubator over last six years to accelerate the tech startup-ecosystem in Kerala, to achieve the mission for a 1000 product startups.

Do you feel Kerala has a conductive environment for entrepreneurship to flourish?

The people of Kerala from across academia, media, bureaucracy, business, political leadership have been supportive of the Technopark Incubator since its start in 2006.

This has resulted in creation of a great foundation over the last six years by networking a vast majority of engineering colleges in Kerala.

Kerala is also 100% literate, has near 100% tele-density high IT literacy and access to broadband making it an apt state to setup a telecom incubator.

Further, Kerala is home to MobME Wireless and we're indebted to the support and faith that the above cross-section placed in us when we started off as one of the first campus startups in India.

What are your plans in terms of promoting innovation and entrepreneurship?

We strongly believe that innovation and entrepreneurship are critical for growth. In order to strengthen the ecosystem, we need to reach out to future innovators from as early as 9th standard. Through our campus connect initiative, we plan to expose the young minds to view developments in science and technology. We hope to broaden their perspective and instill interest in entrepreneurship.

We will try our best to create technology entrepreneurs in our state to see the 'Dawn of a Silicon Coast' in India.

[Richukutan]

Sijo Kuruvilla George

Bright youngsters with tech ideas find the perfect incubator in the warm, cheery environs of Startup Village, in Kochi, led by an equally young and passionate team.

To meet Sijo Kuruvilla George and his team, and see the facility they have created for bright youngsters with great tech ideas at the Startup Village in Kochi, is like ingesting a huge dose of oxygen, optimism, hope and cheer — all in a heady mix. The enthusiasm of the young CEO, all of 29 years, is infectious as he talks about the dreams of “young kids hacking away at their machines; that’s how product companies start!”

He and seven other young professionals have created 5,000 sq ft of cheerful space in lush-green environs. Appropriately named Startup Village, this incubator for young entrepreneurs was set up in April with a corpus fund of Rs 5 crore — Rs 2.5 crore of this is a grant from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), and the other half is from MobMe, a company that George had earlier co-founded with his basketball teammates at engineering college in Thiruvananthapuram.

MobMe story

Having “been there and done it all”, George understands the dilemma and bewilderment of youngsters — most of them college students — who are brimming with “crazy ideas”, but find little sympathy or support at college or home. “When you are a nobody with just an idea, who writes the first cheque of Rs 5-10 lakh? Nobody,” he smiles, adding, “We (MobMe) were fortunate to get an angel investor when we were still in college. And we want to help others get such help.”

In a telling comment on our education system, he says, “We know nothing much happens in college. We’ve been through four years of engineering — it is just paid vacation in the first year. The second year you want to reform the world; by third year, you say abhi toh kuch honeywala nahi hei [nothing is going to happen now], so let’s get a job, a life.”

When the company kicked off, “I was the oldie, and the only one who had graduated. Sanjay (Vijaykumar, CEO of MobMe and Chairman of the incubator) was still in college; and running a company when in college is considered a bit of a crime. Teachers ask you, ‘Are you here to study or run a company?’”

Basketball gave them attendance and got them out of boring classes to do interesting things. They have now convinced the Kerala government that college kids who get into a DST-approved incubator like Startup Village should get attendance waiver, like NCC cadets, as they create both jobs and wealth.

With help from some professors — “we did not understand technology or coding” — they jumped in. Their initial yearly target was Rs 3 lakh, but a mentor at the Trivandrum Technopark (MobMe was the first student initiative to be incubated here) said they should aim for Rs 1 crore. “After a lot of debate we said we’ll do Rs 10 lakh.”

That was six years ago. Today it is a Rs 25-crore company with 150 employees, and George has left it to co-found another enterprise — a not-for-profit entity. Their angel investor, an NRI, wrote a cheque for Rs 80 lakh for the students’ startup in 2006. “He later told us: ‘I didn’t understand a word of what you said, but I saw my youth in you guys and wanted you to do well’.”

Colourful, cheerful

We walk around the facility, which is divided into zones with bright colours. There is an open, free area with colourful beanbags, tables and chairs, some gizmos, gadgets and tech-tools, including shiny cars that can be driven by BlackBerry phones. Backpacks lay strewn around the place. A couple of youngsters were slouched on beanbags, others bent over laptops, furiously clicking away. Most of them are students — many come around 6 p.m. after college, work till 3 a.m., and crash out here till 6 a.m., as no transport is available. That day, 70 youngsters were absorbed in doing different things.

George introduces us to Rohil Dev, a young geek working on gesture technology. “He said, ‘What I created nobody understood, so I came here’.” He explains how he could do things, such as change a song on the laptop, by moving his fingers in front of the screen. “The Web camera on his laptop captures his movements and does things. Dev has done this entirely on his own,” says George.

So Dev was given space, technical infrastructure and the environment to take his ideas forward. Now he is building a mobile game which is sensor-based. “We talk about touch, but now it is movement. He’s just graduated, been here for a month, and not yet decided on the product.”

That very morning, another young man walked into the Village, along with a girl. “When they write in the air with their finger, the computer senses the characters… so they are taking to the next level what the movement guy has done,” says George.

Gender-friendly

So, are more girls coming forward with tech ideas? George admits that of the 211 applications they’ve received, very few are from women — and says social conditioning is the villain. There are signs of change, though. Recently, among a group of engineering students, “the woman was leading the charge and said this was her childhood dream. So things are changing.”

George Paul, Director, Partner Networks, says the company wants to be seen as a “female-friendly incubator. We have a special women entrepreneur cell, and the brightest colours you see here are picked by women! The next step will be to get more women to work in startup companies.”

A core component of the Startup Village, which is a not-for-profit enterprise, is the ‘accelerator’. Every year, 10 promising companies will be put on accelerated programmes, which will give them three months’ capital and close mentoring through icons such as Infosys’s Kris Gopalakrishnan, who is already a patron.

Future plans

George and his team now need more space. Apart from an angel investment fund, money is needed to provide greater access to technology. “Till you saw broadband and video streaming in full flow, could you have imagined an idea called YouTube? You need full exposure to top-class technology to conceive your ideas with full force. Hence, we have experience zones — like the cars driven by BlackBerry. For great innovation to happen you have to kick-start curiosity first.”

In their next project, final-year engineering students will get a box with gadgets, and will have to run through things such as filing a partnership deed, and managing a current account. Having lived the experience, the team knows too well how difficult it is to get the paperwork in place. “After all, these are technocrats and just out of college. They need handholding, a broader worldview, and mentoring.” There are also regular sessions on fund raising, taxes, and so on.

The target for the angel fund is Rs 10 crore. “We want investors who are not looking for 200 per cent return, but want the guy to grow.” Their dream is to graduate 1,000 companies in 10 years. If the Trivandrum Technopark incubator, started in 2006 at a time when such a concept was unknown in Kerala, could graduate 126 companies in five years, “we can do five times that number in half the time,” says George, as the groundwork is already in place.

He is confident his young and energetic team can do it. “After all, isn’t 24-year-old Deepak Ravindran (see box) already investing in companies? And not because he wants multiple returns but he wants to see change. And so do we.”

Sijospeak

We don’t judge ideas — when we look back, the idea we had was dumb; it would have never worked. We know that now with so much knowledge about the market. But when we dived in, we learnt how and why it wouldn’t work — and what would work. We wanted to create a small desktop application to send SMSes. That changed, but we’re still keeping that product, as it is close to our hearts. Slowly, we learnt the technology (MobMe provides core network wireless solutions to send SMS).

If you want to become an entrepreneur, be prepared to set aside three to five years to bring the idea to life. Unless you go to the market you won’t know what will work or what won’t, because you’re talking of a product and not a service company. We ask: Is the guy willing to do it; has he the “doing” rather than “debating” skill; is he willing to learn and adapt?

Would anybody have thought Wikipedia would work? That is how crazy ideas are — nobody knows what will work! But the entrepreneur is a resourceful guy; he has vision and can create something out of nothing.

Does an entrepreneur have to be brainy? No, but he should have the talent to execute and implement. And it’s teamwork. Individuals don’t create huge success; it’s always a team, because it brings diverse competences to the table. We give this advice on Day 1: Overturn all hurdles till you find success. So, team dynamics — chalo yaar, let’s bum it out kind of a thing — is important.

Why would we give up high-paying jobs to do this? Because we want to make a contribution. In my peer community, those who took up jobs have quit, and said, ‘We want to do something more’. Take the case of Deepak Ravindran, founder and CEO of Innoz. He is only 24 — he has a 10,000 sq ft office in Bangalore, is clocking Rs 2 crore in revenue a month, going strong and has now turned an investor. He has been named 2011’s MIT Technology Review outstanding innovator under 35. He started Innoz while in engineering college in Kasaragod, Kerala, and wasn’t even able to pay the Technopark incubator rent — about Rs 6,000 a month — for the first three years.

Ravindran is yet to graduate, has 27 papers pending, and his dream is that one day, because of his success, some university will grant him a degree! He invests in startups not because he wants multiple returns on his money, but because he wants to see the system change.

rasheeda.bhagat@thehindu.co.in
The Hindu BL

[Malayaali]

Biggest Hackathon Held in Startup Village

Scores of new applications and services were developed by techno geeks from college campuses during a 30-hour coding spree at telecom technology hub Startup Village in the biggest ever hackathon held in Kerala.

Hosted by Bangalore-based Innoz Technologies, the developer of mobile search engine 55444, the hackathon featured 65 students who were given a brief and the space to give free reign to their imagination.

A 'hackthon' is typically a fun gathering of programmers and developers who put their heads together to create usable software for specific platforms.

The Innoz hackathon at Startup Village resulted in apps including a search service for 55444 and another app that enables users to log out from all the systems they are logged into Facebook on, a press release said.

The event kicked off at 9 am in the morning on Saturday and continued until 4 pm on Sunday. After a brief presentation on 55444, the student participants were given high-speed broadband access and a space of their own in the Startup campus, complete with creature comforts including beanbags and energy drinks.

"Startup Village will be hosting more of these hackathons in the days to come," said CEO Sijo Kuruvila George.

By actively connecting the student community to the technology industry, these events will help us in the search for the billion dollar company to rise out of a college campus, by the end of the decade, he said.

[Malayaali]

RIM to tie up with 100 colleges in Kerala this year

BlackBerry (BB) maker, Research In Motion (RIM), is eyeing to associate with around 100 colleges in Kerala under its BlackBerry BASE (BlackBerry Apps by Student Entrepreneurs) initiative this year.

BlackBerry has started a BlackBerry Innovation Centre in association with Kerala-based Startup Village at Rubus Labs to help and engage engineering students in Kerala to develop applications for BlackBerry, Annie Mathew, head (alliances and developer relations), RIM India, said.

"We have entered partnership with five colleges and we have plans to tie-up with around 100 educational institutes in Kerala within a years' time," she added.

BlackBerry invites students to come with innovative mobile application ideas and to develop the apps with technical support from its team. The training sessions will be conducted across 126 engineering colleges in Kerala under the BlackBerry BASE programme.

RIM had started this initiative last year in Tamil Nadu on a pilot basis with more than 800 students. "Last year, we have received a good response. Of the total apps developed, we have accepted 30 applications. We have plans to ramp up this initiative to other states in the coming years," she said.

RIM today showcased its latest technology and applications on BlackBerry platform deployed at SkyPark Café in Hyderabad, making it India’s first Near Field Communications (NFC) café powered by BlackBerry. The cafe is powered by BlackBerry smartphones, PlayBook tablets and NFC-based applications.

RIM has also plans to associate with more than 100,000 registered developers to create innovative and user-friendly applications by 2014.

"Our developers' ecosystem is growing significantly. Part of the reason is that our team is being able to guide and mentor the developers and we also work closely with a certain set of partners to get the latest in technology to them. We are bringing the best technology partners to churn out best applications in India,” she had told Business Standard earlier.

[Malayaali]

Research In Motion kick starts BASE campaign in Kerala

Kochi: Research In Motion has initiated the BASE (BlackBerry Apps by Student Entrepreneurs) campaign in Kerala. Aimed at educating and expanding the developer base, BASE empowers students with all that is needed to marry technology and creativity and test their entrepreneurial spirit through the BlackBerry App World. Through this initiative RIM would aim at supporting skilled student with an entrepreneurial mindset to create innovative apps for the BlackBerry platform.

With several successful campaigns under this initiative capturing students from across 45 colleges, the BASE initiative has now been inaugurated in several colleges in Kerala in partnership with the Rubus Lab situated at the Kochi based Start up Village. Starting October 3, 2012, the BASE initiative was rolled out in College Of Engineering, Trivandrum; Government Engineering College, Thrissur; Model College of Engineering, Kochi; College of Engineering, Chengannur and Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology, Kottayam.

Annie Mathew, Head of Alliance, Research In Motion India highlighted, “BASE is an initiative to enable students to use the BlackBerry App World and bring their ideas to life on the mobile platform. We have targeted third and fourth year engineering students to help them create apps for BlackBerry and get further trained through the BlackBerry academic programme.”

BASE aims to create awareness about the BlackBerry Developer Zone, App World, BlackBerry Academic Program, BlackBerry devices and RIM as an organization.

Research In Motion (RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation, revolutionized the mobile industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry® solution in 1999. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.

[Malayaali]

'Startup Village' launches online education platform to upload ‘voiced-content’

Kochi’s Startup Village based Verbicio Tech LLP has launched an online tutorial platform that enables students to access and upload educational materials free of cost.

The educational platform, Exam Voice, also enables users having a Facebook account to upload content in slides, PPT or PDF formats along with image and voice to make learning process easier.

“This is basically a platform for students by students,” Verbicio co-founder Midhun Sankar told Techcircle.in. “Here, the user can upload content in his own voice and interpretation and share it with friends who can access it for free,” he added.

Using this platform, a student can access content related to specific exams, such as CAT, GRE, GATE on topics related to science, engineering and aptitude. The platform also enables students to access solved papers of previous years, topic-wise questions and vocabulary building. Exam Voice can be accessed on smartphones or PCs connected to the internet.

According to Sankar, who founded Verbicio with his friends Bibin George Varghese, Joel Varghese, Nakul E Sibiraj and Midhun KS – all below the age of 25 and of different colleges in Kerala – last October, this platform also provides students with an opportunity to ‘earn while learn’ by uploading content.

As of now Verbicio is not looking to generate big revenue. “We will display advertisement of companies with whom we will have a revenue-sharing agreement, depending on the traffic coming to the website,” Sankar added.

The startup is now scouting for funds to develop and scale up its flagship product and is already in talks with a leading angel fund. “We are planning to raise around Rs 20 lakh. We will use the amount to improve the offering and scale the business,” Sankar said.

Sankar said that the idea of an education platform took shape at one of his seminar presentations during college days. “After each presentation, the teacher had to go through the project of each and every student. This prompted me to think of launching a common platform for the teacher to access PPT presentation on a single platform. Hence Exam Voice.”

Founded in last October, it took the startup almost two years and spent Rs 2 lakh to develop the platform. Exam Voice, which employs nine staffers including the founders, now hopes to become one of the leading search engines in India in two-three years’ time.

“The specialty of our platform is that we have taken the concept of slide sharing to the next level. It means the user can also hear the explanation of the answers, besides viewing them,” Sankar added.

Verbicio is in the process of uploading more content on the site. It is equipping itself for a small scale rollout in Kerala’s professional and degree colleges as well as schools. As part of the marketing plans, it is also organising programmes in educational institutions across Kerala.