Govt tells institutes to use 1% of budget for supporting startups

NEW DELHI: Higher educational institutions have to set aside at least 1% of their total annual budget for funding and supporting innovation and startups through creation of an ‘innovation fund’. The institutions will also need to create pre-incubation and incubation facilities which will have to be available 24X7 to the students and faculty members.
The government plans to rank all major educational institutions and universities on indicators related to promotion of innovation and entrepreneurship development. The guidelines issued by the ministry of human resource development also stated that students and faculty will be allowed licensing of IPR from the institute and will be allowed to work part-time for the startups during study.

The startup policy framework was launched by HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal. Pokhriyal said as India aspires to be 5 trillion dollar economy by 2024, the country needs to emerge as global hub for innovation and entrepreneurship.

According to the policy, student entrepreneurs will be allowed to sit for exams even if they are below the permissible minimum attendance. Students and faculty will also be allowed semester and year breaks to work in the startups and then re-join the programme. The institutes can also take 2% to 9.5% equity/stake in the company based on the support provided.