Incubation to Innovation: Paving the Way towards Startup Creation

On 08.04.2025 a session was organized on the title “Incubation to Innovation: Paving the Way towards Startup Creation” by the Institution’s Innovation Council and Entrepreneurship Development Cell in association with Electronics and Communication Engineering department. The session was handled by Mr. C. Amarsingh Feroz, Associate Professor, Department of ECE, Francis Xavier Engineering College. 60 I ECE A students and 2 faculties participated in the program. This event was coordinated by Dr. R Prem Ananth, IIC Convener, IIC Innovation Ambassador for "Design thinking & Innovations", Assistant professor, Francis Xavier Engineering College.

# Key Highlights

• The session aimed to inspire students to transform their innovative ideas into successful startups. He explained how incubation centres play a crucial role in shaping ideas into viable business models. He emphasized that incubation is not just about infrastructure support, but a complete ecosystem that includes mentorship, funding assistance, prototype development, and market connect.
• He gave the examples of incubation centres which actively support student entrepreneurs. These centres offer an encouraging environment for ideation, innovation, and product development. Students are provided access to domain experts, startup mentoring sessions, legal and financial advisory services, and seed funding support in collaboration with agencies like EDII-TN, AICTE, and MoE.
• He highlighted the inspiring success story of Er. Dharshini, an alumna and the founder of Infosmite, a startup incubated at FXEC. With the guidance and support of the incubation centre, she developed a voice-assisted smart wheelchair that won a Rs. 2,00,000 grant from EDII-TN. Her journey from a student innovator to a recognized entrepreneur demonstrated the power of incubation and the importance of perseverance and mentorship.
• Mr. Feroz also encouraged students to participate in hackathons, startup pitch contests, and innovation challenges, and stressed the importance of networking with like-minded innovators.
• He concluded by saying, “Every idea has potential – all it needs is the right environment, and our college provides just that through its incubation centres.”