30 teams demonstrate their ideas on Nirmaan Day at IIT-Madras

Student with ideas were given support to develop them into products, says institute director V. Kamakoti

Sometimes a necessity results in innovation. At the demo day conducted by pre-incubator Nirmaan of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) on Friday, over 30 teams of students demonstrated their products -- ideas they had come up with to answer some problems. 

A jacket to keep the wearer cool while working near a furnace; pellets made from agriculture waste and used as biofuel; an equipment to plant paddy saplings; a pillion seat on scooters for children aged 3 to 6; AI to build website for businesses; and technology to improve the health of an athlete, were among the ideas demonstrated.  

There were others such as space research, finance for gold products and one on sports technology as well.  

Institute director V. Kamakoti said every start-up addressed an important societal issue. “Each of the start-ups was started with a noble goal to make human life better,” he said, appealing to large industries with large projects to evaluate the products and give the students a purchase order.

“For a start-up, the first purchase order is important. It is much more than seed funding,” he said, appealing to the “big companies to give them at least ₹10 lakh purchase order”.  

Mr. Kamakoti said the institute’s entrepreneurship cell selects students with ideas and offers intervention, allowing them to take their ideas forward through the Centre for Innovation. The demo day is designed to make the idea a viable product, he said. 

Nirmaan has graduated 26 start-ups with a combined valuation of ₹1,000 crore and had raised more than ₹108 crore in venture funding. One start-up had attracted ₹17 crore funding from Infosys. The institute has proposed to make the Demo Day an annual feature. 

Prabhu Rajagopal, adviser (innovation and entrepreneurship) at the institute said the one-year programme included two six-month cohorts, such as training and market discovery phase. In the past year, Nirmaan supported over 85 active student-led start-ups in various fields.

Published - September 28, 2024 12:35 am IST