“Source:- India Today”
Premier technical and management institutions in the country have joined hands to launch a consortium to boost Indian entrepreneurship ecosystem through high quality research in innovation, venturing and entrepreneurship.
Called ‘Innovation-Venturing and Entrepreneurship in India Network (iVEIN),’ its founding members are faculty at IIT Madras, IIT Bombay, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta and IIM Kozhikode. This network of institutions will leverage strengths of the partners and would work with other stakeholders such as incubators, government and investors to generate and disseminate knowledge.
iVEIN was launched on 15th February, 2020 along the side-lines of ‘Dialogue with Stakeholders’ event held by SINE (Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship) at IIT Bombay.
Salient features of the initiative
While talking about this consortium, Prof A. Thillai Rajan, Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras, who is coordinating the initiative, said, “Innovation, venturing and entrepreneurship are getting increasing attention from policymakers. These three areas are expected to play a key role in the economic growth of the country in addition to strengthening India’s position as an innovation country.
Further, Prof. B. Ravi, who heads the Desai Sethi School of Entrepreneurship at IIT Bombay, said, “Top educational institutions including IITs and IIMs have been active in nurturing innovation and entrepreneurship. The proposed network will create a strategic bridge between various stakeholders, strengthen the ecosystem and synthesize the knowledge that exist in silos among different groups.”
Prof. Venkatesh Panchapagesan, Chair, NSRCEL, the innovation and entrepreneurship cell of IIM Bangalore, added, “Academic incubators play a critical role and that iVEIN will help create a stronger platform for them to share best practices and take lead in promoting activities like research that are often neglected by the private ecosystem.”
iVEIN to promote start-ups
“iVEIN aims at playing a larger, strategic role in the start-up ecosystem building beyond incubating start-ups. The network backed by academic rigour of premier institutions would help formulate knowledge in the fast-evolving entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country,” said Keyoor Purani, Professor IIM Kozhikode and Executive Director, IIMK LIVE.
He also added,” It would also aid in creation of data-based knowledge and dissemination of such knowledge. This would give a fillip to entrepreneurship in the country by aiding both policy formulation and implementation regarding innovation as well as by helping managerial practice.”
Objectives of the iVEIN network
There are four major objectives of this initiative:
- Create an interdisciplinary body of knowledge synthesizing multiple perspectives, which would meet the requirements of policy makers, academic researchers, students, innovators, entrepreneurs, investors and all those interested in innovation and ventures
- Track the contours of the vibrant innovation, venturing and entrepreneurship segment in the country and develop a holistic and analytical narrative on the dynamics that drive the development in these areas
- Help in effective policy formulation at multiple levels; develop thought leadership for practice
- Seed the creation of a society that will organize annual conferences, publish a journal, and architect a data repository in the areas of innovation and entrepreneurship
About the iVEIN Report
The immediate activity that would be taken up by iVEIN would be to publish the India Innovation, Venture and Entrepreneurship Report. Conceptualized as a biennial publication, the first report would be published in 2020 with the theme: Creating Successful Ventures.
Institutes, organizations and individuals, especially policy makers, investment managers, practitioners and entrepreneurs with active interest in entrepreneurship, innovation and venturing are invited to join the network to facilitate and promote collaborative research.
About IIT Madras
Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) was established in 1959 by the Government of India as an institute of national importance.
The activities of the Institute in various fields of Technology and Science are carried out in 16 academic departments and several advanced interdisciplinary Research Academic Centres.
IITM has been ranked No.1 in the Overall Institutions category in India Rankings 2019 released by National Institutional Ranking Framework, Ministry of Human Resources Development, Govt. of India.