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What deters student ventures to enrol in an incubation center?

An incubation center plays a pivotal role in nurturing early-stage ventures by providing students with a range of programs that support idea development, prototyping, product development, market entry and business growth. For student entrepreneurs, these resources – mentors, infrastructure, finance – are indeed invaluable in turning ideas into viable businesses. However, according to the GUESSS 2023 Survey Report, 26% of the student entrepreneurs were enrolled with an incubation center.  

This statistic raises an important question: Why aren’t a large majority of student entrepreneurs leveraging the resources offered by incubation centers? Alternatively, one can flip the question and ask – Why are incubators not tapping the potential of aspiring student entrepreneurs? 

The first possible reason is that the students lack awareness. Many students are simply not aware of the incubation center or the support they offer. Secondly, students juggle several academic and extra-curriculuar commitments, in addition to their with entrepreneurial aspirations, creating time constaint. The incubation centers usually gauge startup’s progress in timelined milestones, which is overwhelming for students who haven’t yet transitioned to an entrepreneurial mindset. Third, those who consider approaching the incubator, often feel underprepared, fear rejection or embarrassment, and decide to delay incubation. Fourth, the formal setup of an incubation center can be intimidating for students who generally lack confidence. They find student-run clubs such as E-Cells rather more approachable, rather than a professionally run incubation center.

Now the important question is – How do we bridge this gap between student entrepreneurs and incubation centers? Incubation centers need to understand the student pscychology and proactively engage with aspiring student entrepreneurs, i.e., become more approachable and student-friendly. Lets review some ideas. First, incubation centers can engage directly with students through campus events. By participating in student-run clubs and organizations, and hosting workshops or pitch competitions, centers can make themselves more visible and approachable. Second, incubation centers should have tailored programs to meet the needs of nascent student startups. It may entail flexible, low-stakes opportunities for students to test their ideas and learn from their failures. The focus has to be on encouraging students to experiment, iterate, and refine their ideas in a safe environment, rather than expecting a thoroughly developed business model upfront. Third, physical accessibility is a crucial factor – Incubation centers should be physically located close to student activity areas, or at least have satellite office or an extension center close to student hostels/academic areas. It enhances students’ awareness, and enables students to drop by, learn about resources, and get involved with minimum logistical hurdles. 

Another interesting way for students to being student engagement in campus is to tap into students’ diverse skills by offering internships, collaborative research, and event management opportunities. This creates a mutually beneficial relationship where students gain practical experience while helping the incubation centers run more effectively. More importantly, students get exposure to incubation operations and startup support programs, which may encourages them to startup.

Lastly, entrepreneurship has to become an extension of academic activity of students, with incubation centers as key partners in this venture creation process. The host institutions need to recognize important factor. Students are relatively more motivated to take up credit-based programs which creates more bandwidth for them to explore startup ideas. 

So, bridging the disconnect between student entrepreneurs and incubation centers is not merely about increasing enrollment, it’s about fostering an enabling environment where students feel inspired, supported, and safe to explore entrepreneurship. This requires a mindset shift within incubation centers from being selective to becoming inclusive enablers of early potential. When institutions intentionally embed entrepreneurship into the academic fabric and make incubation centers integral to student life, they will unlock the true potential of the next generation of innovators.

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Picture of Dr Puran Singh

Dr Puran Singh

Dr. Puran is an Associate Professor of Finance and Entrepreneurship at IIT Mandi. He also serves as the Country Delegate for GUESSS India.