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Ambar Singh Roy

KHARAGPUR, Sept. 24

FIVE new Technology Business Incubators (TBIs) will be set up in the country within the current financial year. The Department of Science & Technology (DST) has already accorded in-principle approval for this. At present, there are four TBIs located in Noida, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, and these focus on select thrust areas.

Stating this during an interface with Business Line here, Dr P.K.B. Menon, Adviser and Member Secretary of the National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB) of DST, said the proposed TBIs would be set up in Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Vellore and Kozhikode. While the ones in Hyderabad and Pune would be focussed on nurturing and providing support to start-ups in agri-business, TBIs in Ahmedabad, Vellore and Kozhikode would focus on design, leather technology and IT, respectively.

TBIs in India are located near academic institutions of excellence and work for catalysing the growth of innovation-based entrepreneurship. In several developed and developing nations the TBI model has proved quite successful. In fact a UNDP/UNIDO study carried out on the functioning of TBIs in seven countries, namely China, the Czech Republic, Poland, Turkey, Brazil, Mexico and Nigeria, has concluded that TBIs are cost-effective instruments that help entrepreneurs in creating enterprises that generate employment and facilitate economic growth and wealth creation. Business incubators the world over have not just facilitated the growth of technology-based new enterprises but have also improved their survival rate substantially. Besides, business incubators also facilitate speedy commercialisation of research finding.

Dr Menon, who is here to attend a two-day regional workshop on TBIs organised here under the aegis of Science & Technology Entrepreneurs Park of Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, said the scheme for establishment of TBIs around academic centres of excellence was started by NSTEDB in 2000-2001. The scheme provides for financial assistance for infrastructure creation and recurring expenses of TBIs for a period of five years from inception. However, TBIs should start earning money from the very first year and become self-sufficient in five years' time.

The existing TBIs at Noida, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore are focused on facilitating entrepreneurship in the areas of IT, biotechnology, materials and composites, respectively. Each TBI is expected to help create at least 20 companies within the first five years. TBIs are also free to participate in the equity of these companies.

Dr Menon said that the TBI model had great scope for creation of a new generation of entrepreneurs who, in turn, would provide jobs and generate national wealth as well. "The scope is there but the difficulty lies in the lack of understanding of the concept by the beneficiaries," he said, adding that necessary steps were being taken to address the problem. These include awareness creation through workshops and seminars and talks by successful entrepreneurs.

The thrust areas in which DST proposes to promote TBIs include information and communication technology, biotechnology, new materials, instrumentation and maintenance, agriculture and food processing, garments and fashion technology, and services.

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