The Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Linkages at the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) has invited proposals from students, professors, start-ups and business innovators for its latest round under the mentorship programme.
Started in August 2018, the centre guides new businesses on their start-ups as well as provides legal assistance and advice on scaling up their business. Proposals are invited twice a year for the same and the deadline to apply for this round is March 15.
Dr Apoorva Palkar, the Director of Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Linkages, said that the centre has tied up with several industry partners to help start-ups with technical expertise. Start-ups in IT, Deep Technology, Education Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Materials Science, Agriculture, Media, E-Commerce, FinTech, Electronic Mobility and others will be mentored.
Palkar earlier told The Indian Express that the centre has helped build and nurture 40 start-ups, an average of one new business a month in the 40-month period that it has been running.
“This centre has been set up to develop thinking skills amongst the students and support creation of entrepreneurial ventures that have the capability to scale up as startups from all types of innovators. We are here to build a ecosystem and a startup culture. For a long time, the university has been a leading research-based university with excellent infrastructure, intellectual capital and research ideas that can be commercialised. At the centre, we provide end-to-end support right from company formation, legal support, business planning and execution,” she had reportedly said.