IIT Mandi Catalyst, the first technology business incubator of Himachal Pradesh, at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi, inaugurated the 'Startup Exploration Program 2019' on Monday, February 11, 2019. Mr. Rugved Thakur, Deputy Commissioner of Mandi, inaugurated the program.
The inaugural session began with an address by Prof. Timothy A. Gonsalves, Director, IIT Mandi, who welcomed 10 startup teams and encouraged them to make the best use of the research labs and faculty expertise available in the Institute.
Congratulating IIT Mandi Catalyst for greatly ramping up with its efforts for their plans in 2019, Prof. Timothy A Gonsalves, Director, IIT Mandi, said, "IIT Mandi Catalyst is essentially a win-win proposition for IIT Mandi and for entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs get access to our faculty, labs and sophisticated instruments. One of our commitments is to develop the technology that is useful for the society and one way of taking it to the society is through Startups."
In his address, Mr. Rugved Thakur, Deputy Commissioner of Mandi, welcomed the startup teams and congratulated them on their brave decision to start a venture. Applauding the initiatives undertaken by IIT Mandi Catalyst to support budding entrepreneurs, Mr. Thakur said, "It is a great initiative by IIT Mandi Catalyst that the young entrepreneurs are coming to Himachal with various business ideas and finding practical solutions for the community, state and other parts of the country".
The inaugural session was followed up by a 'Startups Showcase', during which the dignitaries visited the presentation booths of the startup teams and engaged in detailed discussion on their ideas and prototypes.
IIT Mandi Catalyst will be providing training, mentoring and financial support to these startup teams over the next three months during which these teams will convert their ideas into prototypes/products. It is noteworthy that Catalyst maintains a co-working space and hostel facility for startup teams at Mandav Complex in Mandi town. Among the 10 startups admitted to the program, three are working in agro-tech, three in clean energy, one in waste management and others in IoT and Augmented reality-based commercial solutions.
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