Technology Business Incubator at National Institute of Technology Calicut, India: Way forward

Preethi M., Manager of the Technology Business Incubator (TBI) at National Institute of Technology Calicut (NITC) was preparing for the upcoming Board of Governors meeting scheduled on March 2014. Incidentally, two faculty members from the nearby Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode had dropped in to visit a few entrepreneurs at TBI with a view to explore collaborative opportunities for engaging with the incubates to understand various issues faced by them during the start-up phase. On accompanying them to the building where the incubatees were housed, she paused a moment at the entrance and exclaimed to herself “it is indeed a miracle that TBI was still surviving”. Since its inception in November 2003, she had been the Manager of TBI. The goal of the incubator was quite clear – to incubate start-up companies in Information Technology (IT) and Electronics industry. Since then, TBI had so far given incubation support to 42 start-ups, 80% of which had survived as of 2015. Given its initial as well as ongoing challenges, Preethi believed that TBI’s performance hadindeed been impressive. However, she was convinced that TBI could do much more may be it required stronger institutional support for resources, funds and other inputs required for its growth.As she was flipping through the slides later in the day, different issues which had a bearing on TBI’sfuture flashed across her mind. How could she garner the support from NIT and its students? How does she attract more incubatees? Where do additional resources required for capital expenditure as well as operational expenses come from? What was the role an incubator like TBI was expected to play in a technical institute like NIT? Is TBI meeting the expectations? What was the relevance of incubators like TBI for the economy at large?