By now, a lot of buzz has been created around T-Hub, touted to be the mother of all incubators in the country, coming up in Hyderabad next month.
But what does it really mean for a start-up that finds a slot in the project? Your ideas get refinement; you get legal counselling to help protect your IP (intellectual property); help-on-hand on branding, sales; in getting connected with Venture Capital funds and whatnot, says a top government official.
The State government has agreed to be the first customer of start-ups, if they come out with products that can solve governance issues, including public delivery of services and innovation in agriculture.
Telangana Government promises a (Silicon) Valley like environment, both physical and operational. It promises no intervention from the government in its day-to-day operations. “Recently a top Google official visited the facility for a preview and said it is second to none,” Jayesh Ranjan, Secretary (IT Department) of the Telangana government, says.
Jayesh, who played a key role in devising the plan and talking to stakeholders, said, “We are going to have 12 experts each from Nalsar (law) University, Indian School of Business and International Institute of Information Technology. They will advice start-ups at various stages of their evolution.”
Professional managementThe Telangana Government has decided to leave the administration to professionals with expertise in the start-up ecosystem. “We are not going to interfere in the day-to-day operations. It is going to be run independently. We have drawn experts from the IT industry to guide the hub,” IT Minister KT Rama Rao told BusinessLine .
After a number of delays, the country’s biggest start-up incubator, T-Hub, is going to be inaugurated on November 5. A lot of hype has been created around the incubator, which the government claims will be a cluster of incubators and VC funds. The first phase of the project will come up at IIIT (Hyderabad) campus.
Though likely to be started off with 100 start-ups, the first phase of the project is targeted to house at least 800 start-ups. The second that will come up at Rayadurgam will have a facility that is five times the size, with 3 lakh sq feet.
Key benefitsJayesh Ranjan said the benefits are that T-Hub will provide start-ups an environment that is available in the West. They will get legal help to protect their IP. Another key benefit would be exposure to investment funds. The hub will also house VCs and angels.
The government is screening start-up proposals. “We are getting 5-10 proposals a day. Not all of them will be accepted. We hope to start off with 200 when we begin operations on November 5,” Jayesh Ranjan said.