DeitY to expand incubator programme

The Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), in association with India Electronics & Semiconductor Association and Software Technology Parks of India, is planning to expand its 'electropreneur park' programme to help electronics and semiconductor start-ups.

The first electropreneur park, set up at the Delhi University with an investment of Rs 21 crore, is currently incubating 10 start-ups that were selected from 168 entries. Through the setting up of more such facilities, they hope hardware and internet of things start-ups, which often fall under the radar of venture capitalists, are able to raise more funds.

"There are tremendous problems and we're getting four incubators added, two of which will be in Bengaluru. The larger challenge is to help them bring their ideas into shape and discover customers; it's too early to worry about exits," said Arvind Tiwari, chairman of IoT Forum, TiE.

Start-ups that become a part of the incubation programme will get access to manufacturing facilities and a small amount of funding to sustain themselves for a year.

After this, the start-ups will have to find external funding or get customers to sustain their businesses.

"Activity is happening at three levels. One is the maker revolution, for which you have maker spaces. The second level is proper incubators where startups are given space and access to manufacturing facilities. The third is more specialised for people working on specialised topics," added Tiwari.

The move is in line with DietY's goal to provide monetary assistance and expertise to 50 start-ups over the next five years, helping boost India's expertise in the hardware, electronics, IoT and semiconductor space.

According to him, there could be around 40 maker spaces, with a lot of participation from colleges across India, by the end of the year. Work is ongoing to set up secondary incubator facilities at Bengaluru and Coimbatore, while a tertiary unit will be set up by the government of India, for which Nasscom is the programme manager.

With home and workspace automation and sensory-led innovations drawing a lot of attention globally, the Indian government is trying to aid start-ups in the space grow. Hardware and electronics have been two key regions where start-ups have found it hard to raise venture capital funding, with investors turning a blind eye to anything but consumer facing e-commerce companies.