Role of SSIP in Creating Student Startup Environment in Gujarat

The Startup and Student Innovation Policy (SSIP) aims to foster a vibrant student startup environment in academic institutions of Gujarat. In order to institutionalize comprehensive innovation and startup support systems in the state of Gujarat, i-Hub was registered on May 16, 2019 by the Department of Education, Government of Gujarat as a non-profit Section 8 company. i-Hub extends a single window support system to early stage innovators and startups to help their ideas grow into enterprises while creating social and economic impact. It acts as a central enabler of the innovation ecosystem, creating pathways from ‘Mind-to-Market’ across sectors and enabling more and more youth in the state to become job creators rather than job seekers. By setting up a centralized hub coupled with state-of-the-art facilities, i-Hub provides support to startups with their ideas, products and investment requirements at the pre-incubation, incubation and acceleration stages.

The new i-Hub campus was inaugurated by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri Bhupendra Patel on 5th December 2023. It is the largest innovation and entrepreneurship hub supported by the Education Department, Government of Gujarat. The new hub is a combination of agile, flexible and collaborative co-working spaces (plug and play). It has been built on a 1.5L sq ft area that can accommodate around 500 startups at a time. Moreover, the infrastructure is equipped with futuristic and advanced technology labs for rapid prototyping.

i-Hub Achievements:

• Till date, i-Hub has supported 530 startups with a total revenue of INR 539 Crore.
• i-Hub has provided grants worth over INR 17 Cr to startups for prototype development.
• Through various initiatives, i-Hub has facilitated private funding totaling INR 160 Cr for incubated startups.
• The i-Hub will create approximately 1,400 jobs for skilled workers.
• The total value of startups supported by i-Hub is around INR 3100 Cr.
• i-Hub operates a Hub & Spoke model, supporting startups in urban and rural areas. It covers over 20 districts across the state.
• i-Hub has sensitized around 4 Lakh youth through various capacity building programs. Over 5000 members of the Higher and Technical Education Department have been trained on Intellectual Property and Innovation to help their students.
• To support female-led startups, i-Hub launched a special program that has supported over 200 female-led startups, which represents around 30% of all startups supported by i-Hub.
• i-Hub supports startups in key areas such as agriculture, health and wellness, advanced technology, food and beverage, logistics, financial technology, education technology, defense and aerospace, social impact, manufacturing, and textiles.
• More than 300 startups received support through 50 MAGIC (Market, Academia, Government, Industry, Community) Startup Demo Day programs across the state.

i-Hub’s action plan for the next 5 years:

i-Hub will provide seed funding to 500 startups over five years. It will nurture 1,500 student startups from various universities and colleges.

i-Hub will also support all incubators in academia and help develop policies, pedagogy and institutional mechanisms to support startups in industry and government.

i-Hub will develop sector-specific incubation and acceleration programs and help startups obtain venture capital and venture capital financing for development and expansion.

i-Hub for Startups Amenities:

Coworking space for startups: i-Hub offers startups a subsidized coworking space that is well-equipped with all the necessary amenities. More than 100 startups are actively using this facility in the new i-Hub campus.

Networking opportunities for startups: i-Hub has partnered with several ecosystem organizations that startups can leverage to grow. Startups can connect with industries through more than 25 industry chambers in various sectors that are supported by i-Hub.

Infrastructure support for startups: All startups are supported by providing access to supporting infrastructure such as conference rooms, classrooms, meeting rooms and related facilities, which can be used free of charge or for a minimal fee.

360° mentoring for startups: Startups can receive guidance and mentoring from the i-Hub mentoring board, consisting of over 250 mentors, including leading experts in various fields such as business modeling, design, product development, investment, and strategy.

Intellectual Property Support for Startups: i-Hub provides startups with support for patents, trademarks and related intellectual property rights through our in-house State Intellectual Property Facilitation Center.

Financial assistance for startups: To fuel startup expansion and growth, i-Hub has partnered with over 50 Venture Capitalists, Micro Venture Capitalists, and Angel Investment partners. These partnerships provide critical risk capital to scale ventures.