WEBEL-BCC&I Tech Incubation Centre

Pick your route in

• Ideathon: the biannual competition run by BCC&I and WEBEL. Mentors select or nominate incubatees from it.
• Mentor nomination: if a mentor backs your idea, the centre can take you on through that route.
• Lateral incubation: for tech-enabled ideas that need a prototype or more work before full-fledged incubation.

Check you fit the eligibility

• Any individual over 18 with an innovative idea or startup is eligible.
• Founders ready to set up now, and businesses less than 6 years old, are preferred.
• Lateral incubation needs an idea that uses technology or relies on it as the core enabler.

Know the commitments

• Full-fledged incubatees meet mentors at least twice a month.
• Incubatees file a weekly MIS report before each mentor meeting.
• Co-working seats must be used every day, or a nominated representative must use them.
• Fees are due in advance within the first seven days of each month.

What the review looks for

At the end of each period, the review scores the original idea and whether it stayed on course, technology and digital usage, a fortnightly progress matrix, market readiness, the path to return on investment, entrepreneurial attitude, social and environmental impact, and how the business sustains its advantage.

Contact

Write to innovations@bengalchamber.com and say which route you want: Ideathon, mentor nomination or lateral incubation.

The WEBEL-BCC&I Tech Incubation Centre is a technology incubator in Sector V, Salt Lake City, Kolkata, set up in 2019. It is a joint initiative of The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCC&I) and West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation (WEBEL), and incubatees pay their fees to the Chamber.

How the centre works

The centre takes startups building technology products. Full-fledged incubation gives a co-working seat with plug and play workstations, mentorship from the Chamber's senior members and stakeholders, and connections to funding and overseas collaborators. The incubation period is six months and is reviewed at the end, and it can be extended. The maximum stay is eighteen months, including extensions.

Lateral incubation is a lighter route for startups whose idea or prototype still needs work. Lateral incubatees get a seat and a review after three months, and they can move up to full-fledged incubation after a satisfactory review by the mentors.

Both routes are paid. Incubatees pay a monthly fee per seat, and the handbook sets out separate fees for physical and virtual seats.

Who can apply

There are two ways in. The first is the Ideathon, a biannual competition run by BCC&I and WEBEL to find suitable incubatees. The second is nomination by a mentor. The handbook also says any individual over 18 with an innovative idea or startup is eligible, with preference for founders who are ready to set up now and for businesses that are less than 6 years of operation. Lateral incubation is open to startups whose ideas use technology, or rely on it as the core enabler.

Facilities

The co-working space is CCTV camera-enabled and has plug and play workstations, electricity, air conditioning, Wi-Fi at 20 Mbps, biometric access, a fire alarm and an indoor navigation system. Incubatees get cloud credits from AWS, Google Cloud and DigitalOcean. A centre of excellence set up by HPE serves health-tech startups on the premises. A conference room, a digital locker and printing services are also available.

Mentorship and support

Mentorship covers domain knowledge, finance and taxation, compliance, and legal and IPR. Mentors give their time as volunteers. Full-fledged incubatees meet their mentors at least twice a month on a fortnightly basis, and each files a weekly MIS report before the meeting. The centre also publishes a handbook with guidelines for mentors, incubatees and its office manager, and the rules for each route are set out there. The centre also runs training on the essentials of running a business, charged case by case. Eligible startups are introduced to funding connects and overseas collaborators through the platform. The centre also supplies resources to help incubatees with intellectual property.

The two partners

The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry traces its origins to 1833. WEBEL was incorporated in 1974 to shape the electronics industry in West Bengal, and today it acts as the state government's nodal agency for that sector. The centre is where the two work together on startup incubation.

Who runs it

The incubation in-charges are Ms. Angana Guha Roy Chowdhury, Assistant Director-General, and Mr. Sambit Dasgupta, Deputy Director, both of the Bengal Chamber. Bandhan Konnagar, the CSR implementing organisation of Bandhan Bank, supports the centre. Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Web Prism Dynamics LLP, Seven Boats, AWS and Google Cloud are named partners.

Scale

The centre says it has incubated more than 85 startups. Its impact counter shows 14 full-fledged and 4 lateral startups. The same counter labels 85 as overall entrepreneurs engaged, current and graduated, so the two readings of that number differ and neither is audited. Its success stories include Hornet Decentratech, Defiant Decentratech, Schoppen Solutions and EzeRx HealthTech.

Location

The office is at Module 232, 1st Floor, SDF Building, Block EP & GP, Sector V, Salt Lake City, Kolkata 700091. Enquiries go to innovations@bengalchamber.com.