Indian "National Student Startup Policy" 2016 is launched

National Student Startup Policy 2016

by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), 2016.

About the Policy

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee launched the National Student Startup Policy on November 16, 2016 at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The National Student Startup Policy, formulated by AICTE, aims to create 100,000 technology based student start-ups and a million employment opportunities within the next 10 years. The policy plans on achieving this by developing an ideal entrepreneurial ecosystem and promoting strong inter-institutional partnerships among technical institutions. It emphasizes the much-desired need for an appropriate startup policy to propel the youth of India through and beyond the 21st century.

1. The Preamble:

An analysis of Indian entrepreneur profiles reveals that 32 years is the average age of entrepreneurs and that only 6 percent of them are women. Interestingly enough, the majority of start-up entrepreneurs in the country have a background in MNCs (multinationals) and Indian tech companies (35 percent and 27 percent respectively, from a sample of the report). Only 13 percent of start-up founders have absolutely no experience in the field before launching their ventures (NASSCOM Report). 

Student (owned) start-ups have started to contribute towards market expansion and job creation. Most of the student (owned) start-ups have evolved from technology courses instead of other liberal studies or social sciences disciplines. In recent years, a few technological and entrepreneurship development institutions have initiated efforts to design Start-up Policies for student ventures on their campuses.

AICTE took up the task of designing the 'Start-up Policy for AICTE Approved Institutions' to increase the efforts of institutions as they prepare students for entrepreneurship. AICTE's Start-up Policy would outline roles of the AICTE, Academic Institutions, and TBI (Technology Business Incubators) in creating student entrepreneurs. 

2. Vision:

To create 100,000 tech-based start-ups (student owned) and a million employment opportunities within the next 10 years (2025). This would be done by developing an ideal entrepreneurial eco-system and promoting strong inter-institutional partnerships among technical institutions. 

3. Mission:

To help create a larger number of student-driven, on campus start-ups that will add to economic and social value. To achieve this, the below mentioned strategies would be applied:

- Teaching students and encouraging them to take up entrepreneurship as a preferred career choice 

- Preparing students for successful launching of their start-ups

- Re-orienting academic curriculum and pedagogy with a strong focus on Start-ups

- Developing customized teaching and training materials for start-ups and engaging them in pre-startup activities

- Capacity Building Programmes / Activities for faculty as well as trainers.

- Mentoring start-ups to become sustainable.

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Video of Launch Event