Startup incubation at NITK-STEP

This is STEP's main offer and the only thing it takes applications for continuously. There is no deadline and no application fee. Idea-stage teams are accepted, as are student-led startups including final-year students and recent graduates. The named thrust areas are information technology, electronics and robotics, multidisciplinary technology integration and engineering design, with other domains also invited.

What you get

• Furnished office space in STEP with utilities and access to its common facilities; the application asks how much space you need
• Access to NIT Karnataka's Main Library, Central Research Facility, guest house and departmental labs at charges lower than those for regular industry
• A network of mentors, industry experts, peers and alumni, plus faculty guidance on campus
• Guidance on legal compliance, company incorporation and intellectual property through partner experts
• The option to license NITK technology into the startup, with inventors holding first right of refusal
• Annual renewal of the agreement against a progress report and audited financial statements

Who can apply

• Technology startups from idea stage onwards; the application also asks for employee count and the last twelve months' income, so operating companies fit too
• Student-led startups, including final-year students and recent graduates
• STEP's own page says you do not need to be from NITK. The institute's April 2024 Innovation & Entrepreneurship Policy says outsiders incubate by licensing relevant NITK technology and/or by having regular institute faculty, staff or students as co-founders — the two do not agree, so check before applying
• Regular NITK faculty and staff may be mentor, consultant or co-founder, but not sole founder, and need approval
• A private limited company is the preferred form

How selection works: expert screening of the application, then a presentation of the business plan to the institute's Innovation & Entrepreneurship Advisory Committee, which assesses feasibility and viability and recommends approval to the competent authority. Founders then sign an agreement with STEP.

How to apply: download the application form from STEP's about page — it is the last page of the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Policy document — and send it with a product brochure and business model by email to step@nitk.edu.in or as a hardcopy. Applicants from inside the institute route it through their head of department or administrative head of section.