Manipal Universal Technology Business Incubator (MUTBI) is an initiative of Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal, to provide services to students, faculty, alumni as well as people of the region to start their own Venture in line with the social objectives of Government of India. MAHE has been imparting world class education for over 6 decades in Healthcare, Engineering, Management and others, under one umbrella. This has motivated MAHE to leverage multidisciplinary research and innovation resulting in development of products, technology and patent. Looking at the entrepreneurial skills of students and faculty members, Technology Business Incubator (TBI) was established.  MUTBI is operational since March 2010, with support from National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), Department of Science & Technology (DST), Govt. of India. MUTBI has the following objectives:

·         Nurture entrepreneurship skills of students, faculty and people of the region

·         Provide seed funding for feasible ideas/products/proposals

·         Provide infrastructure resources to incubatee startups

·         Facilitate market survey, product marketing, patenting, financial and legal services

·         Arrange for funding from external agencies, angel investors and venture capitalists.

The thrust areas of MUTBI are Information Technology, Healthcare, Medical devices, Agriculture, Renewable energy, Energy conversion systems and MEMS/Nanotechnology. However, we also support startups working on the emerging areas. During the last several years MUTBI supported many startups of students, faculty members, outsiders and even provided with funding. MUTBI conducts series of awareness and development programs on entrepreneurship to sensitize both students and faculty members about startups.  

MUTBI operates from its state-of-the art 10,000 sq. ft. new facility located in the Health Science campus of MAHE.

1.     Facilities and Supports

MAHE facilities like Innovation Center, Central instrumentation and Technology Transfer Office are available in the ecosystem and MUTBI provides need based financial support.

Innovation Center: Innovation Center helps in creating the pipeline for entrepreneurship. The innovation center fosters creative thinking and innovation through open network of students, faculty members and community members. The innovation center provides the required resources to become innovators. Innovation center has divisions such as Idea Café, Excelerate Makerspace and Apple Creative Studio. Innovation center activities are driven by Chief Innovation Officer and his team.

Idea Café encourages interdisciplinary teams to meet, network and brainstorm complex problems. Regular weekly evening seminar series are arranged for innovators and entrepreneurs to gather and share their ideas and challenges. Collaborative teams formed during ideation are provided with co-working space at Excelerate in the Innovation Center. Removed from the hustle and bustle of hostel life, here, students from different MAHE institutions develop and test their ideas to turn them into viable projects. At the Makerspace, innovators are provided with wide range of tools and equipment like 3D printer, Laser cutting machine to develop prototype. Training seminars are regularly conducted and most commonly used materials are provided at free of cost to MAHE students. Newly developed state-of-the-art Apple Creative Studio offers course on iOS Application Development and also helps in developing commercially viable iOS based App.

Central Instrumentation: Central facilities include Scanning Electron Microscope, X-ray Diffractometer, In Chromatography, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Atomic Force Microscope, Spectrophotometer, Microgravure, RF Sputtering Unit, Nanofiber Electrospinning Unit, Spin Coater and Thermal Camera and Injection Moulding Machine. Apart from this, other instruments/equipment/machines available at various Institutes/Departments/Centers of MAHE are also available for working.

Technology Transfer Office: Supports commercialization of project work/research generated after assessing market potential, including potential for securing various forms of Intellectual Property, within our ecosystem by coordinating with experts from Health Sciences, Technology, Management and other disciplines. Technology developed within and using MAHE facilities are governed by MAHE policy for faculty members and students.

Financial support: MAHE supports innovations through small amount of funding during initial stage and preincubation as per policy. MUTBI financial support include

·         Seed support as loan/against equity up to Rs. 25 lakh for product development / commercialization/scale up.

·         Graduates who are aspiring to become entrepreneurs will be supported with fellowship amount of Rs 10,000 - Rs 30,000 per month under the NIDHI-EIR program of DST.

2.     Programs

In order to create constant awareness and also to keep the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship, MAHE organizes various events/programs through Institutes/Innovation center/ MUTBI. Theme based (wearable device, dentistry, local needs) hackathons are regularly organized to find solutions to problems. Winning teams are provided with funding to develop prototype. Entrepreneurship Awareness and Development programs are organised for students and faculty members to keep them abreast of startup ecosystem.

Innovation Festival and Entrepreneurship Summit: During this two day event, innovators, display their prototypes to students/faculty members/visitors. Also industry experts/entrepreneurs participate in panel discussion and interact with budding students who aspire to become entrepreneurs. Pitch sessions are also planned for students/faculty members to share their proposals in front of experts.

Provenance (Accelerating idea to startup):  In order to convert idea into startup, MAHE provides funding up to Rs. 10 lakh. During the preliminary stage, teams are asked to present their idea. Selected teams will be provide with bootcamp on Innovation, Executive summary, Finance, Team building, Business model development. Again, teams are asked to present their business development model. Selected teams will move the Finale of Provenance where they will be pitching in front of external jury panel. The provenance winners will be qualified for preincubation with funding support. Mentoring and reviewing are part of preincubation and after successful preincubation, teams will be qualified for incubation at MUTBI. Winning teams are eligible for concession on rent and funding during incubation.   

3.     Preincubation

During the initial stage of product development/startup formation, teams may opt for preincubation of 6-12 months. As part of preincubation, teams will be provided with co-working space and advice during their journey towards startup. Based on the progress and need, funding may be provided. At present 5 teams are under preincubation and NIDHI-EIR is Government funded preincubation scheme for graduates.

NIDHI-EIR Scheme:  In 2017, MUTBI was selected as one of the Programme Execution Partner (PEP) under NIDHI-EIR scheme. Through this scheme, a graduated student is given a fellowship for one year. NIDHI- EIR recipients at MUTBI have worked on projects such as an App for medical consultancy, Vehicle tracking device, Travel bag with added features, Automating the seed sowing machine, Drug delivery system as a treatment for Cataract patients, Purification of contaminated water, Crowd funding for the researchers and Syringe puller. Two other recipients working on vaccine carrier and safety device for women have moved out as they received funding under the BIRAC - BIG scheme. After successfully offering this scheme to 15 graduates, MUTBI has been selected to continue this scheme during 2019 & 2020. Graduates after successful completion of NIDHI-EIR may opt for incubation at MUTBI.

4.     Incubation

Proposals from good team with appropriate prototype, innovation, traction, will be considered for presentation to the committee. Teams are required to submit Executive summary detailed business plan and pitch deck. After the recommendation of the committee, incubation will be provided for initial period of 18 months. As part of incubation, dedicated space, mentoring and other supports will be provided to startups,  towards a successful business venture.  Startups are required to pay the rent and provide equity to MUTBI as part of support from ecosystem. Regular review process, meeting the compliance for the startups, are a must during the incubation period. Based on the progress and need, extension of incubation period by another 18 months is also possible. If required, seed support will be provided after 6 months based on the progress and potential of the new venture.

5.     Our startups

During the initial years, startups at MUTBI were either from students or from outsiders. But, later, even faculty members got into entrepreneurship and MUTBI supported 10 such faculty driven/mentored BIRAC funded startups.   

Graduated startups: During the last several years, 22 startups graduated from MUTBI. The entrepreneurial experience made them to move forward in their professional carrier, by working for other companies or startups. Some are continuing with their startups and are doing well. All our startups could be broadly categorized under healthcare, IT and others.

Healthcare related startups

·         Developing Intelligent Vision care solutions for effective public health delivery to meet eye care needs.

·         Design and development of sensor based insole for early detection of abnormal plantar pressure distribution in type 2 diabetes mellitus peripheral neuropathy

·         Development of an Automated Rehabilitation device for Oral Cancer Patients

·         Providing voice for the voiceless-An Artificial Larynx for voice restoration in post-operative throat cancer patients

IT and other startups

·         IT: App development, Website development, Social media management, game development, Locator and Communicator Device for School Buses/Call Centre Cabs.

·         Renewable energy:  Manufacturing Paper pencils and pens by utilizing the waste & recycled papers.

·         Organic Photovoltaic: Cost effective, light weight and flexible printed Organic Solar cell polymers.

·         Manufacturing: Fused deposition model type 3D printers.

More details of one of our startup i.e., Fractal Works is provided here. 

Fracktal Works Pvt. Ltd.: Fracktal Works is a 3D printer manufacturing and product development firm that also provides product design and CAD services.

Fracktal works was founded by Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT) alumni Vijay Varada and Asil Rohit. The Company delivers low-volume manufacturing capabilities to its customers leveraging on its digital manufacturing back-end. It is currently working with manufacturing giants across industry verticals, researching and developing disruptive applications, which would give game-changing advantage for its clients.

Fracktal Works Pvt. Ltd., is a technology company established in 2013 under the incubation of MUTBI and funded by the prize money of Provenance, (the then Business Plan Competition). One of the first products being “Julia” series of FDM 3D printers, the company started diversification into the product design services and consumer electronics design and manufacturing. Currently the clientele of Fracktal Works includes industry giants like Toshiba, L&T, Cisco Systems, Lo’real Paris India limited and many other medium scale and large scale technology companies. Currently the operations of the company include product design services and manufacturing of wide range of 3D printers. Depending on the operations, the company has two crucial brand names namely i) Fracktal Works Pvt. Ltd. and ii) Fracktal Studios. The startup received funding of Rs. 100 lakh.  

Incubatees: 6 startups are incubated at MUTBI, and they are working on Vaccine container, development of dialysis cartridge, Rehabilitation device for Stroke and Neuro-muscular deficit patients, Cell based screening platform using a human mesenchymal stem cell derived model for Alzheimer's disease, 3D diagnostic and treatment planning tool for the spinal disorders, Development of affordable Smart Walker /GAIT Trainer for Cerebral Palsy children. The details of two such incubatees i.e., Blackfrog Technologies Pvt. Ltd. and Kumudha Health Tech Pvt Ltd.

Blackfrog Technologies Pvt. Ltd.: Founded by engineering graduates Mayur U. Shetty, alumnus MIT Manipal & Donson D’ Souza, alumnus of MITE, Moodbidri.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates 50% of vaccines (25% for liquid vaccines) go to waste before they are administered. One of the biggest contributors to this issue is the disruption in cold chain supply. That is, temperature-sensitive vaccines must be stored at 2-8 degrees Celsius to remain efficacious. However, as things stand, there is no accountability when the vials leave the primary or sub-health centres where they are refrigerated. “Last mile” immunization cold chain in remote, low-income settings reliant on ice-based technologies faces problems of compliance, accidental freezing and/or warming, and lack of temperature monitoring during transport.

The team has developed SANJIVANI - a portable, battery-powered refrigeration device that will strictly maintain any pre-set temperature for up to 12 hours for last-mile transport of vaccines. Further device capabilities will include continuous temperature monitoring, location tracking, state of charge indication, and communication with headquarters via live tracking and vital statistics. It was hypothesized that this device would reduce the economic burden of wasted vaccines and optimize human resources in vaccine delivery by nullifying the need for repeated immunization visits to account for the administering of unviable vaccines. Importantly, the level of portability and ease of charging that it gains from being battery-powered sets our device apart from the competition, which relies on less efficient and impractical means, such as Ammonia or Nitrogen, to generate cooling.  The device is meant for use in typical day-long immunization campaign where healthcare workers take vaccines to the field and bring back the left-overs at the end of the day for reuse/disposal.  Received funding from BIRAC-BIG scheme of Dept of Biotechnology, Govt. of India.

Kumudha Health Tech Pvt Ltd.: Founded by Dr. Sampath Kumar, Dept. of Electronics and Communication Engineering and Dr. Hareesha K S, Professor, Dept. of Computer Applications, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal.

Kumudha Health Tech Private Limited is a Manipal based company working towards excellence in the medical device space, and believe in pursuing business through innovation and technology. The team comes with several years of industry experience, and comprise of a highly motivated set of specialists. The start-up is funded by BIRAC, Dept. of Biotechnology, Government of India.  Kumudha developed 3D diagnostic and treatment planning tool for the spinal deformities, SPINAK. It is an online tool which takes two x-rays of the spine as input and produces 3D spine model. The 3D printed model is also provided on demand for the surgery simulation. Kumudha are the specialists in rapid prototyping and offer high-quality 3D printing of human body parts. Kumudha also provide the solution to the medical problem in the form of web and mobile apps that push the limits of technology.

6.     Governance

Incubator MUTBI is incorporated as Manipal University Technology Business Incubator Society in June 2009 with Dr. Ramdas M Pai as its Chairman. The strategic guidance to MUTBI is provided by its Board having Dr. Ranjan Pai as Chairman. MUTBI board has experts with background of industry, academics & research, finance, investment and entrepreneurship. There are several committees like incubation progress review, seed support project management and NIDHI-EIR. Apart from this MUTBI has its own Advisor who will be guiding us on legal aspects, compliance of both MUTBI & startups. Auditing and preparation of finance reports are carried out by an independent audit firm. Regular management of incubator is carried out by team comprising of CEO, Asst. Manager and Finance Associate. MUTBI CEO is part of Society, Board, all committees and regular management of incubator. Incubator-startup agreement on service, equity, seed support, policy/guidelines on preincubation, mentor-mentee, Faculty entrepreneurship, technology transfer ensure the smooth conduct of all tasks.

7.     Manipal-Government of Karnataka Bioincubator

This is a joint venture between MAHE and Karnataka Biotechnology & Information Technology Services (KBITS). Bioincubator will act as technical business incubator for promotion and development of knowledge based enterprise into a successful business. Bioincubator aim to provide the world class facilities, infrastructure and services for the incubation of startups in the various domains of biopharma, biomedical devices, dental innovation, biotechnology, healthcare and diagnostic for the successful commercialization of an idea into an effective enterprise. Bioincubator also has 10,000 sq. ft. area consisting of dedicated and shared laboratories, offices, well equipped instrumentation and infrastructure for the translation of innovative idea to the business set up. Bioincubator started in 2018 and is operational since January 2019.  

Both MUTBI and Bioincubator are part of MUTBI Society and are operating from the same premises in the Health Science campus of MAHE. Further details on bioincubator.manipal.edu

More details can be obtained from:

Manipal Universal Technology Business Incubator (MUTBI)  

4^th Floor, Advanced Research Center

Madhav Nagar, Manipal - 576 104

Ph: + 91 820 2925051

E-mail: mutbi.mit@manipal.edu

Web: http://www.mutbimanipal.org