The state’s only government-run engineering college, Birsa Institute of Technology (BIT) in Sindri, will boast a 2,500sqft incubation lab equipped with state-of-the-art facilities including Wi-Fi and 3D printers.
A tender for setting up the lab, on the ground floor of the IT building on the campus, is likely to be issued within a month from now.
BIT director Dharmendra Kumar Singh said the objective was to promote innovative minds. “We aim to offer bright, young people adequate space and facilities to build on their research. The incubation lab will allow them to make prototypes of their products,” he said.
Singh added that not only students of BIT-Sindri, but youths from across the state could present their ideas and expect support from the incubation lab, which will be integrated with the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Innovation Lab in Ranchi.
The Sindri cradle, had in December 2017, formed an incubation cell under the leadership of head of department, production engineering, Prakash Kumar.
Prakash Kumar, head of the innovation cell. Picture by Gautam Dey
Besides mentoring students on start-up ideas, the cell has been organising various programmes at regular intervals. An entrepreneurial conclave hosted in December 2018 saw the participation of several alumni, including some based in the US.
Incubation cell co-ordinator Kumar said two student projects — Odiogoraj led by Divyanshu Kumar of BTech mining and Hello Doctor led by BTech civil’s Karan Raj — had been selected for the Atal innovation lab.
“A stipend of Rs 8,500 per group per month for up to 12 months will be provided. A fund of Rs 10 lakh will also be given to each group for developing prototypes of the selected projects,” Kumar said.
Later, 100 per cent reimbursement of patent filing cost, and same for GST and stamp duty paid would be offered.
“That is not all. As much as 50 per cent of lease rental, and 30 per cent of bandwidth and electricity rentals will also be reimbursed. Sums of Rs 50,000 and Rs 1.5 lakh spent on domestic and international quality certifications, respectively, will be paid back to the groups as well,” Kumar added.
