Premier technical and management institutions in the country have joined hands to launch a consortium to boost Indian entrepreneurship ecosystem through high quality research in innovation, venturing and entrepreneurship. Called Innovation-Venturing and Entrepreneurship in India Network or iVEIN, its founding members are faculty at IIT Madras, IIT Bombay, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta and IIM Kozhikode.
A statement from the consortium said the network of institutions will leverage strengths of the partners and would work with other stakeholders such as incubators, government and investors to generate and disseminate knowledge.
iVEIN was launched on February 15, 2020 along the side-lines of 'Dialogue with Stakeholders' event held by SINE (Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship) at IIT Bombay.
The objectives of the initiative include creating an interdisciplinary body of knowledge synthesizing multiple perspectives, which would meet the requirements of policy makers, academic researchers, students, innovators, entrepreneurs, investors and all those interested in innovation and ventures.
"Innovation, venturing and entrepreneurship are getting increasing attention from policymakers. These three areas are expected to play a key role in the economic growth of the country in addition to strengthening India's position as an innovation country," Prof A Thillai Rajan, Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras, who is coordinating the initiative, said while highlighting the salient features of the initiative.
The iVEIN network, he added that, will facilitate high-quality research in this field among the academic fraternity in India and create avenues for dissemination of the relevant knowledge through conferences and journal publications.
Further, Prof. B. Ravi, who heads the Desai Sethi School of Entrepreneurship at IIT Bombay, said, "Top educational institutions including IITs and IIMs have been active in nurturing innovation and entrepreneurship. The proposed network will create a strategic bridge between various stakeholders, strengthen the ecosystem and synthesize the knowledge that exist in silos among different groups."
Prof. Venkatesh Panchapagesan, Chair, NSRCEL, the innovation and entrepreneurship cell of IIM Bangalore, added, "Academic incubators play a critical role and that iVEIN will help create a stronger platform for them to share best practices and take lead in promoting activities like research that are often neglected by the private ecosystem."
"iVEIN aims at playing a larger, strategic role in the start-up ecosystem building beyond incubating start-ups. The network backed by academic rigour of premier institutions would help formulate knowledge in the fast-evolving entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country," said Keyoor Purani, Professor IIM Kozhikode and Executive Director, IIMK LIVE.
Prof. Vidyanand Jha, Professor of Organisational Behaviour at IIM Calcutta said, "The network would catalyse the much-needed work to document Indian experiences in areas of entrepreneurship and innovation. It would also aid in creation of data-based knowledge and dissemination of such knowledge. This would give a fillip to entrepreneurship in the country by aiding both policy formulation and implementation regarding innovation as well as by helping managerial practice."
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