“India’s frugal technology, talent and innovation are in demand in global markets” | Chennai News

Crescent Innovation and Incubation Council (CIIC), a part of BS Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science and Technology, is one of the promising deep-tech incubators in the state that has a track record of supporting life science startups. Parvez Alam, executive director of CIIC, talks to TOI about raising funds, competing in the big league and more.Excerpts
History:
 How did CIIC build a life sciences ecosystem?
We started the journey six years ago. Back then, Tamil Nadu had one or two incubators in life sciences and people used to go to Bengaluru and Hyderabad. The key moment was when we got a grant from BIRAC (Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council, under the Department of Biotechnology) in 2019. After that, we set up state-of-the-art labs. Initially, we took some risks, moved faster than other institutes in Chennai and got a first-mover advantage. Now, 70% of the 130 startups we incubate are in life sciences.
 What challenges are specific to this sector?
The barriers to entry are high due to capital requirements and longer gestation periods. Every life sciences company has to spend around ₹2 crore to set up a lab. CIIC has microbiology, molecular biology, sterilisation and analytical labs and has collaborated with another company to set up a 10,000-class clean room for stem cell culture, which is a rare facility. We also have a plant tissue culture lab. Even non-CIIC startups can use them by paying a nominal fee.
 What is your approach to commercializing intellectual property?
We are currently helping startups through our faculty and students to license their technology and develop their intellectual property (IP). I am the first Registered Technology Transfer Professional (RTTP) in the state designated by ATTP (Alliance of Tech Transfer Professionals, a European organization). The problem in India is that scientists are supposed to do commercialization, and that doesn’t work. Half of startup failures are due to product-market fit issues; you need people with a flair for business. Models like campus spin-offs are needed for commercialization. These are common in some Western universities. We need people with an entrepreneurial mindset to work with incubators.
 What are the other sectors you are focusing on?
In addition to life sciences, CIIC has established a green field incubation center with the support of Atal Incubation Center, focusing on manufacturing and industry 4.0. We are also looking at electric mobility and cleantech sectors. CIIC plans to incubate at least 100 startups in mobility and cleantech in five years.
 How much money have your startups raised and what is their total valuation?
Total funds raised is `260 crore which includes government and CSR grants, angel and venture capital investments. Funds raised from angels and VCs is `110 crore. Total valuation of portfolio startups is `1800 crore. Cumulative sales turnover is over `500 crore from FY19 to FY24.
CIIC aims to reach a combined valuation of `10,000 crore in five years. We are also exploring the possibility of setting up our own corpus. Since we are a non-profit, we cannot set up one, but we can help set up another for-profit entity. It could act as a sister fund, so some of our feeder money could go there.
 What’s next?
Among other things, we help our startups leverage West Asia, the US and Europe – both in terms of market access and funding. We believe there is demand for Indian frugal technology, talent and innovation from global corporations.