Child-friendly and functional school bags designed for underprivileged children and incense sticks made of flower waste from religious places are among the novel products showcased during the second edition of start-ups event Abhivyakti at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur.

IIT-Kanpur has one of the oldest incubation and innovation ecosystems in the country, Foundation For Innovation and Research In Science and Technology (FIRST). It operates under the brand name of Startup Incubation and Innovation Centre (SIIC).

“Through such events we want to educate people about developments in technology. It is a platform for the developers of the technology to connect with the real market. Such events help us in informing the venture capitalists about the ideas for investments,” said Nikhil Agarwal, CEO, FIRST.

The organisers have also invited students from other educational institutions.

75 incubated companies

Currently, the institute is hosting 75 incubated companies in a wide range of areas including aerospace, defence, agritech, medtech, cleantech, robotics and social sectors.

Over 35 of these have showcased their products at Abhivyakti .

“Whenever there is an opportunity we try to participate as it’s a platform for us to showcase our products,” said Vinay Chataraju, Head, Business Development, Kritsnam Technologies, a start-up incubated at IIT-Kanpur. Kritsnam uses Internet of things for efficient water resource management.

Abhay Karandikar, Director, IIT-Kanpur said: “A challenge for the start-up ecosystem is identifying the right problems, solutions and also the entrepreneur team and funding for them. However things have improved in the last 2-3 years.”

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