IIT-Madras launches School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship to boost startup ecosystem
'Our goal is to emerge as the leading school for innovation and entrepreneurship in the next five years and put IITM on the map of entrepreneurial universities across the world,' Prabhu Rajagopal, Head, School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship told The Hindu. 'The goal is primarily to provide an academic footprint to the entrepreneurial activities that are going on inside the campus,' he added.
According to Mr. Rajagopal, who is a serial faculty-entrepreneur and a faculty member of the Mechanical Engineering Department, the school will offer a wide range of academic and non-academic programs, cutting-edge research in innovation and entrepreneurship, and a distinctive lab-to-startup pathway through the MS in Entrepreneurship (to be offered from the July-November 2025 semester). 'We will bring all the innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives on campus under this school. For example, the Centre for Innovation (CFI) and Nirmaan will now come under the school,' he added.
Plans are on anvil to create IITM-specific funding mechanisms at the initiation and scale-up stages for startups, to be housed under the banner of this school. Practice-led degrees at undergraduate and master's levels are also being envisaged. 'We are also looking at an 'Innovation Doctorate,'' Mr. Rajagopal said.
'Last year, IIT-M Director set an ambitious target of incubating 100 startups every year. And we have achieved it. But it can't be a one-time wonder – We need to be doing it on a regular basis every time. And that's why we need to provide academic support for entrepreneurship on campus,' he added. During the financial year 2024–25, IIT Madras Incubation Cell (IITMIC) incubated 104 new startups. Over 50% of these startups were founded by IIT Madras members, including faculty, staff, students, and alumni, while 48% were founded by external entrepreneurs. Over the last 12 years, IITMIC has incubated a total of 457 deep-tech startups, collectively valued at over ₹50,000 crore.
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