Noida: AKTU to create start-up cells in its private colleges
To set up the ecosystem, the university has divided the entire process in three parts—registering students with the start-up cells, inter-college resource sharing and incubation.
The Dr Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU) has promised its students entrepreneurial supervision, grants, resources and legal protection to create start-ups addressing societal issues and bleak market conditions.
The decision was taken in an academic meeting at the Noida campus on Tuesday between the university administration and officials from its private affiliated colleges across Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad.
The university is planning to open a start-up cell in each affiliated college where students can present their start-up proposals under the supervision of a faculty member.
“Our entire idea of entrepreneurship comes with an intent of service to the society. The idea can mature with innovation, exploring the best ways to implement it and the final step is creating the start-up itself. There are more than 4 lakh students in more than 600 colleges of AKTU; many of these students have immense potential. We want to utilize that potential to develop an ecosystem for entrepreneurship,” said AKTU advisor Srijan Pal Singh.
To set up the ecosystem, the university has divided the entire process in three parts—registering students with the start-up cells, inter-college resource sharing and incubation.
“For now, we are aiming at registering 1,000 students for the start-up cells. The students will then study entrepreneurship, attend seminars and workshops and complete certificate courses,” said Singh.
In the next step, the university intends to distribute ‘start-up’ cards to the students so they can avail resources related to their unique idea of entrepreneurship.
“In the next six months, we intend that at least 250 students get start-up cards issued by the university. These cards will help students avail resources from other colleges across UP,” said Singh.
In the third step, the students will become a part of the ‘incubation cell’ to prepare for the launch of their idea into a business.
“Under the incubation centre, we will provide funding once their project is approved. They will also receive stipend, travel reimbursement, legal security and Intellectual Property Rights,” said Singh.
“e-commerce start-ups may have burst in metro cities but there is immense potential in start-ups that can serve people at the grassroot level. Students must find a middle ground so they are able to serve the consumer, society, government and their business model,” said Singh.
The start-up ecosystem will be cloud-based, announced AKTU vice-chancellor Dr Vinay Pathak.
“The details of the start-up process will also be provided online so that students can get information regarding registration, project approval and grant process. Resources will also be available online,” said Dr Pathak.