Start-Up and Incubation at the Alagappa University Startup Incubation Centre

Alagappa University invites applications for start-up and incubation at any time — there is no cohort and no published deadline. The guidelines behind the page are unusually specific about who is eligible and what a place actually involves, so read them before applying.

What you get

• Rented incubation space on the Karaikudi campus: eighteen built-in laboratory spaces of about sixty square feet each, co-working workbenches added on request, and one open floor for teams that want to set up their own layout.
• Administrative office facilities on rent, wired and wireless broadband, a phone connection and standard office furniture.
• Access to the University Science Instrumentation Centre and to departmental laboratories with specialised equipment, at charges set by university regulations and with prior permission from the department.
• Conference halls and meeting rooms on booking.
• A mentor, chosen from the centre's panel of experts. Mentoring is compulsory and the incubatee pays the mentor.
• Help with intellectual property under university regulations, and a technology-transfer route in which a committee negotiates terms with industry and royalties are split sixty-forty between the inventor and the university.

Who can apply

• Students, research scholars, post-doctoral fellows, faculty, other staff including project staff, alumni, and members of the public — the guidelines name the public explicitly, so you do not need a connection to the university.
• Companies, provided they are private companies limited by shares registered under the Companies Act 2013, are not one-person companies, are not subsidiaries of a public limited company, and have at least one director resident in India.
• A business promoted by a full-time degree student is not eligible if that student holds an executive position in it; a business where the student is only a promoter can be.
• A company promoted by a serving government employee needs a No Objection Certificate from the employer.
• A company that runs, or intends to run, educational courses, training or vocational programmes is not eligible.

How selection works: applications are scored on nine published criteria — feasibility of the product idea on innovation, technology content, timeliness and market potential; the core team and promoters; intellectual property generated and the idea's potential to create more; financial and commercial viability with five-year projections of profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow; funds required and the viability of raising them; time to market; break-even period; commercial potential and demand in India; and scalability. The centre then runs its own due diligence on competitiveness and long-term sustainability, and may take advice from central and state research funding agencies. Applicants are expected to keep the process confidential.

How to apply: download the application form from the Startup / Incubation Cell page, fill it in and submit it with the supporting details. A registered company also attaches its certificate of incorporation, memorandum and articles of association, GST certificate, and its intellectual property and financial status documents. No submission inbox or postal address is published, so route the form through the registrar's office at registrar@alagappauniversity.ac.in and ask to be directed to the incubation centre.

A place runs for two years unless extended, and can end earlier on underperformance, irresolvable promoter disputes or a change of control. Incubatees file a yearly audited profit-and-loss statement and unaudited quarterly activity statements against their own business plan.