NSRCEL, IIT Madras research centre launch report on startup incubation ecosystem

NEW DELHI: IIT Madras’s research centre CREST along with NSRCEL, a startup incubator at IIM Bangalore, released a joint startup incubator research report on ‘India Incubator Kaleidoscope 2024’ today on October 4. The report offers valuable insights to create and nurture startup incubators which is essential for job creation and economic growth, the IIT Madras statement said.

"Incubated startups secured their first round of funding earlier than the non-incubated. Despite being smaller in number, incubated startups have won more awards in all leading startup awards and are engaged more actively in the creation of intellectual property," the IIT Madras statement adds.

The event was led by professor Thillai Rajan A, head, CREST and professor of finance, department of management studies at IIT Madras, and professor Srivardhini K Jha, professor of entrepreneurship at IIM Bangalore and chairperson of NSRCEL.

The report was launched in the presence of Amitabh Kant (G20 Sherpa, government of India), Rishikesha T Krishnan, director at IIM Bangalore; Anand Sri Ganesh (CEO, NSRCEL) including others as part of SummitUp the flagship event of NSRCEL at IIM Bangalore.

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Highlights of the incubator research

As per the joint research report, the number of incubators in the Indian ecosystem has grown steadily, with more than 1,100 active incubators dotting the Indian startup ecosystem. The Southern region leads the pack, housing 45% of all incubators and having the highest density of incubators.

“Tier I cities house almost half of all incubators (48 percent). However, the mix of incubators, viz., those hosted by academic institutions, industry, and the public sector, show significant variation across cities, the IIT Madras statement added.

As per the report, Chennai has a high proportion of academic incubators 82%, whereas, Bengaluru and Gurugram have a high proportion of industry incubators at 71% and 84% respectively.

The incubator density is 0.8 incubators per million population, whereas countries like US, UK and China range between 8 and 10 incubators per million population. This indicates the need for setting up more incubators in the country, IIT Madras note adds.

Speaking about the joint research report professor Srivardhini Jha said: “Incubators play a crucial role in making entrepreneurship more accessible and inclusive across the country but their activities and impact are not well understood. This report addresses that gap and highlights the need to both raise the level of incubation activity and enhance the quality of incubation efforts nationwide.”

Professor V Kamakoti, director of IIT Madras, said: “For Bharat to become a superpower, we must aspire to make our country as a Startup Nation. This effort involves interactions between multiple stakeholders. This report addresses this crucial point and the challenges. I am sure the recommendation of this report will be immensely beneficial for all the stakeholders.”

Disclaimer: This content was distributed by the IIT Madras and has been published as part of Careers360’s marketing initiative.