Contributing to India’s innovative startup economy, IIT’s faculty members have stepped into the startup race with a range of unique ventures.

BANGALORE: IIT-ians are contributing hugely to the Indian economy with the plethora of innovative startups.  Alumni from the nation’s leading engineering institututions have bagged success setting up unique startups.  This time it’s the faculty members of these institutes who have stepped into the startup space, setting afloat their own ventures, reports Business Insider.

These IIT pedagogues from Bombay, Delhi, Madras, Kharagpur and Hyderabad are at the forefront of this trend.

Ravikrishnan Elangovan, professor in the Department Of Biochemical Engineering And Biotechnology, IIT Delhi met two other professors Vivekanandan Perumal and Shalini Gupta on joining the institute. These 3 faculty members worked on their idea of developing a solution for typhoid diagnosis. Their innovative idea received funding in 2013.

Startups being led by faculty member reflect the intersection of academics and entrepreneurship and such ventures started out in U.S. mainly from Stanford and MIT. With time, the trend is picking up speed in India as well.

Reportedly, 16 new startups have sprung up recently that have been founded or co-founded by IIT Madras faculty members.  In addition to this, the faculty members are also a part of 30 startups from the institute, out of the total 89. This makes IIT Madras the leading institute following the trend.

Tamaswati Ghosh, CEO, IIT Madras Incubation Cell, said, “We are witnessing an increasing trend of joint collaboration between faculty members and their current and graduated students, with research being translated into commercial ventures.”

The first collaboration of this kind took place in 2007 at IIT Kharagpur.  “For the past two to three years, we’re getting registrations from three to four such companies each year,” said PP Das, Head Of Rajendra Mishra School Of Engineering Entrepreneurship at IIT Kharagpur. One more joint venture