ISBA meet brings startup incubators under one roof

Top functionaries of startup incubators converged here Wednesday, as the three-day ISBA Conference got off to a start with the mission of bringing together incubators from across the country.

Kerala Governor Justice P Sathasivam will inaugurate the event, the last two days of which will be held at Kanjirappally in Kottayam district.

The delegates will engage themselves in disseminating, discussing and sharing ideas, besides best practices and experiences to make India a noteworthy product startup nation, a release issued by the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) said here.

Kerala Startup Mission started as an Incubator named Technopark Technology Business Incubator and have scaled to be the state nodal agency to develop technology startups in the state.

"Incubators across the country have a lot to learn from the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM)," said K Suresh Kumar, president of ISBA (Indian Science and Technology Entrepreneurs Parks and Business Incubator Association).

The deliberations, which will continue on Thursday and Friday at Amal Jyothi College of Engineering at Koovappally off Kanjirappally, would take the mission forward by discussing new initiatives that can be undertaken.

The event also strives to ensure a closer interaction with the Ministry of Science & Technology and other government departments.

At the ISBA Pre-conference in Kochi Wednesday, KSUM Chief Executive Officer Saji Gopinath said investment possibilities pose the foremost challenge for incubators.

"We need to find ways to bring in investments," he said in his opening address.

"That should be the main point of discussion at this conference."