JNU establishes Foundation for Innovation to support start-ups

It said the goal of AIC-JNUFI is to promote and support start-ups in specific subjects or sectors that have applications and impact in the core sectors of the economy.

JNU is back in the news and this time for the right reasons. The university under its start-up policy, has established Jawaharlal Nehru University Foundation for Innovation (JNUFI) to support the students and faculties who owned start-ups.

Getty Images/iStockphoto

“Today NITI Aayog sanctioned financial support of Rs 9.99 crore for five years to support the JNUFI as Atal Incubation Centre (AIC-JNUFI) under the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) scheme of Government of India,” said a statement from JNU.

It said the goal of AIC-JNUFI is to promote and support start-ups in specific subjects or sectors that have applications and impact in the core sectors of the economy.

One of its mandates is to promote and establish a “world-class incubation facility for creating and incubating novel technologies, and business ideas into viable commercial products or services”. Apart from helping the start-ups, the AIC-JNUFI will encourage innovation in the Indian ecosystem and in JNU through its activities such as workshops, training and capacity building, mentoring support, to early-stage start-ups.

The starting of AIC-JNUFI on JNU campus will foster start-up companies and budding entrepreneurs with mentorship and guidance to encourage start-ups and take care of the unemployment problem in India to some extent.

So far, seven companies owned by faculties or students have already been approved by the due-diligence committee for incubation at AIC-JNUFI, and three such companies have started their residence in AIC-JNUFI. The AIC-JNUFI has aimed to incubate more than 100 start-up companies over a period of five years.