Lucknow
Setting up a new business venture will now fetch marks to the students at the premier Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur.
To harvest a new breed of enterprising technocrats and encourage start-ups under the ‘Make in India’ theme, the Institute has included entrepreneurship as part of its curricula.
IIT Kanpur’s academic senate has approved a comprehensive Students Entrepreneurship Policy, which acknowledges the importance of fostering innovation in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) and the National Innovation and Start-up Policy (NISP).
The policy will introduce the concept of ‘Innovation and Entrepreneurship Credit’, which will enable students to pursue entrepreneurial aspirations as part of their academics.
It will allow the undergraduates in the Third Year and the postgraduate students, immediately after completion of the minimum course work, to gain academic credit while pursuing entrepreneurial activities. The students can also avail themselves of semester leave to pursue their ideas by using facilities inside and outside the campus.
The policy is aimed at empowering the students to promote entrepreneurship, and yet not dilute academic standards and pedagogical goals.
“The challenges of modern industry require students to evolve from passive learners to creators and innovators. This requires universities to be venues where entrepreneurship is fostered in young people, a place where creative ideas spark that can lead to innovations of the future,” IIT Kanpur director Prof Abhay Karandikar said.
The policy will also provide for industry mentoring and funding, patenting and intellectual property (IP) management and deferred placement facility to students, who could also found and register their own companies.
Prof Karandikar said that a robust Students’ Entrepreneurship Policy would allow students to keep pace with the demands of a rapidly developing world.
IIT Kanpur is among the leading institutions espousing entrepreneurship by housing the largest ecosystem in the Asian region that comprises 11 incubators, 5 state-of-the-art prototypes, tinkering laboratories, and an advanced science and technology park.
Currently, the Institute supports more than 100 start-ups and has been successful in graduating more than 50 start-ups, including a few unicorns.
Moreover, IIT Kanpur already has a Faculty Entrepreneurship Policy, under which the faculty members can start a company while working as regular employees.