IITM Incubation Cell, Sona Incubation Foundation MOU for 'Partner Incubator' at Salem

Chennai Salem August 27, 2021

The IIT Madras Incubation Cell (IITMIC) and Sona Incubation Foundation (SIF) inked a Memorandum of Understanding to setup a ‘Partner Incubator’ at Salem to nurture ideas from professionals, students, and local community.

By leveraging the strengths, vast experience and exceptional track record of IITMIC, SIF’s Partner Incubator shall foster such entrepreneurial ideas in a supportive environment before they become attractive for venture capital.

“We are delighted to bring the first ever ‘Partner Incubator’ jointly with IIT Madras Incubation Cell to Salem to promote and support untapped creativity of individual innovators and assist them to become technology-based entrepreneurs.” says Mr Chocko Valliappa, Vice Chairman of Sona group of Institutions.

“The Sona College of Technology and Thiagarajar Polytechnic College together have been preparing engineering talent for nearly 90 years with a key focus on R&D and Industry-academia partnership. We now look forward to exceptional ideas from students and alumni, especially in areas like electric mobility and wearable technology for use in healthcare,” he added.

Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala, Institute Professor at IIT Madras said, “In an effort to find entrepreneurs in the deep interiors of Tamil Nadu we started our search for an ideal institution engaged in serious research with active participation of students in industry projects. In the R&D labs and top academic leadership at Sona group of institutions we found a deep commitment both to research and entrepreneurship.” The MOU was signed by Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala on behalf of IITM Incubation Cell and Dr SRR Senthilkumar, Principal, Sona College of Technology and Dr. ir. Nirmalesh K. Sampath Kumar, Director, Innovation and R&D at the Sona group in presence Mr Chocko Valliappa and IITMIC’s Strategy Officer Mr Pradeep Murlidhar and Ms Seema Shivanath.

Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala, a widely celebrated technology veteran said that he was pleased to see Sona group of Institutions among the first set of ‘Partner Incubators’ set up by IIT Madras Incubation Cell. IITMIC has incubated 233 start-ups so far, of these 88 have already in the market. These start-ups have filed for over 125 patents and have generated over 4000 jobs.

The MOU will promote networking and forging of linkages with other constituents of the innovation chain for commercialization of their developments, provide support and training for students and innovators keen on converting their novel ideas into viable startups focused on solving real-life problems. Those accepted by Sona’s ‘Partner Incubator’ shall have access to facilities and services extended by IIT Madras Incubation Cell for an initial period of three year. IITMIC will also support the ‘Partner Incubator’ in conducting training, motivational, experiential talks and events to generate excitement, and in building and strengthening its entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The ‘Partner Incubator’ will benefit by adopting IITMIC processes for incubation, as well as have access to its “Startup Engine” platform to track and manage their incubatees. “Startup Engine” is a digital tool that empowers startups to effectively track and manage their business functions and allows key stakeholders to collaborate and take data driven business decisions.

IITMIC will provide support to the incubatees by offering them access to incubation space, infrastructure, business support services, networking and training support. In addition, technical and business mentoring, seed funding, and connect with angels and venture capitalists will also be provided.

Mr Chocko Valliappa, Vice Chairman of Sona Group of Institutions that set up Sona Incubation Foundation said that while the incubatees at ‘Partner Incubator’ will be free to choose technology areas to deploy in their startups they would encourage ideas that leverage wearable technology as well as e-mobility.

For more details, please contact:

Dinu Dhanraj
+91 9663399187
dinu.d@veetechnologies.com