Incubation at Kalasalingam Technology Business Incubator (KTBI)

KTBI was set up in 2015 out of an Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Centre backed by DST's National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board. It gives space, labs, mentoring and internal funding to ventures coming out of the university, and names 17 companies as incubated.

Who can apply

• Faculty members and students of KARE. The university's start-up policy, which sets out incubation support, equity and intellectual property, is written for them and drafted in line with MHRD's National Innovation and Start-up Policy 2019 for Students and Faculty.
• Founders with no connection to the university have no published route. The mentors section mentions external startups and the MSME funding sentence mentions start-ups and SMEs, but neither states criteria, a window or a way to apply.

What you get

• Shared working office space with workstations.
• Access to university department and research labs and their equipment, the International Research Centre, and a fab lab for testing concepts and product builds.
• Mentoring from internal and external mentors across biotech and biomedical, renewable energy, waste management, mechanical and automation, information and communication technology, and agriculture.
• Help negotiating with suppliers for materials during idea development, business networking, and help obtaining bank loans.
• Internal funding for ideas the mentor panel assesses and recommends.
• Accountancy, legal and patent support, listed in the start-up policy as services for which the university may take a stake.

How selection works: the policy says incubation support is given "based on the merit of the project proposal". No committee, scoring or timetable is published.

How to apply: there is no form, portal, intake window or applications inbox. A student or faculty member should approach the TBI Manager, who is also President of the Institution's Innovation Council, at directoriedc@klu.ac.in.