Not your run of the mill startups
A clear and noticeable mindset change is ploughing through the startup ecosystem-all for the better. It can be argued that it is coming a little late, but it surely is wasting no time now to catch up and lead all the way.
‘Space startup develops India’s first in-orbit space debris monitoring, tracking system’ screams the headline in a financial daily of Mumbai.
Digantara Research and Technology (DRT), a space tech startup, is India’s first air and space surveillance company. It has developed India’s first In-orbit Space Debris Monitoring and Tracking System. This will provide global real-time earth coverage deploying a constellation of cost-efficient nano-satellites in Low Earth Orbit and a space-based air surveillance payload for accurate tracking of both aircraft and space objects.
“With a comprehensive approach to long term space flight safety, Digantara will help international space agencies to track and map the space debris and minimise the major threat to the future of space exploration,” say the young founders of this company. The cost of satellite launch is under a thousand dollars per kilogram and falling, point these enthusiasts who want to take forward the legacy of India as a well-known low-cost space-faring nation.
Solution to network congestion
A 5G telecom startup, Astrome, is pioneering the future of millimeter wave wireless communication — be it on earth or from space. Astrome aims to solve the network congestion problems in 4G infrastructure and enable 5G broadband by providing wireless fibre-like backhaul capacity to rural areas and remote parts of the world, where laying fibre is not an option. They are betting on space technology too and believe the solution is a robust globally implementable solution for rural infrastructure.
See the sound…
“See the sound” says the website of a new age AI enabled stethoscope – making startup, which uses advances in sound technology and combines these with computing power to diagnose ailments early, fast and accurate. A first of its kind startup with European academic support, the AiSteth can visualise the heart beat and its murmurs. This can be used in Primary Health Centre to see and assist early detection of cardiovascular aberrations.
What is different about these
First of all these are startups founded by young professionals, many of whom have a deep understanding of the technology and science they are engaged in. Many of the founders have Ph.Ds in the area of their work or MDs in medicine if they are in the healthcare area and also have the experience to match their ambition and objective.
They solve problems of the world
Secondly, they are solving problems for the world, not just India’s. They collaborate with the best minds in the world, not just in India. The founders have the mindset and confidence to work on an equal footing with global leaders in their areas of specialisation.
Thirdly, they have experienced academics and professionals as advisors and partners in their journey. Retired scientists and specialists from ISRO are part of these startups, working, in many instances, shoulder to shoulder with the young teams in startups. The web sites of these startups boast of professors from IITs and Caltech who are mentors, coaches, advisors and who are aligned with the purpose of the founders.
And lastly, the bureaucrats, regulators and tax authorities, who usually throw the book of compliance at these young and aspirational professionals, are no longer doing so. They have come to understand the new battleground and the war for supremacy that these young minds are fighting — in many instances the warriors are the sons and daughters of these nation keepers!
