The 9th E-Summit of the IIT-M is set to host 15,000 students and more than thousand business founders between 7th March and 10th March. The event has witnessed the participation of 500 early-stage start-ups across 4 main sectors namely – fintech, geological technologies and sector agnostic conglomerates.
IIT-M had been granted 366 patents, one patent a day on average for 2023-2024. “For India to be a superpower, innovation and entrepreneurship must be at the forefront,” said Kamakoti. 350 companies have been incubated at the IIT-M Research Park. Their valuation stands at Rs 45,000 crore. “It is my belief that we will produce one unicorn per year in 5-6 years,” said Kamakoti.
He further explained, “we have created an ecosystem where a simple idea can get converted into a proper start-up. If a student gets an idea, the E-Cell will help to convert it to a patent, the centre for innovation will convert that patent to design and create a prototype which can then be expanded as a start-up.”
Further, in order to help students get a taste of entrepreneurship, IIT-M has started a program called “internships in startup space.” Dr Richa Agarwal, Associate Professor said, “students will be able to understand what the startup culture is, what the pressures of a startup are and decide whether to take this route or not.”
The E summit 2024 features notable speakers and events spread across four conclaves – youth conclave, innovators conclave, startup conclave and startup essentials conclave.