NUST in Islamabad has come a long way from big/small campuses all over the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi to the sprawling campus in H-11 that it currently calls home. One of the leading institutions in the country with regards to engineering and sciences, complemented by a well-reputed business program, NUST is a natural habitat for tech entrepreneurship. The institution, in order to encourage students in that direction, has set up the Technology Incubation Center (TIC) on its premises with a broad-ranging agenda to develop start-up businesses and supporting innovation on campus.
Services
TIC claims to provide two sets of support systems to start-ups: infrastructural and business.
The infrastructural part includes office space, amenities and IT/Admin support. This part sounds a lot like what a co-working space would be able to provide – what would be interesting to see is how flexible the center is in terms of the services that they provide. Does the long list of services imply that it’s an all-or-nothing deal and you need to have your email addresses on TIC’s domain or you can’t get everything else you need, or if it’s a flexible set of services that the participants can pick from according to their preferences and needs.
The business support bit covers access to resources, training, mentorship and advice. The inclusion of a business development team to assist businesses with various issues is a great way to work. This means that the business and the business development team can partner to achieve the goals that they set for the business. This is especially important for entrepreneurs with strictly technical training during their education.
Participants and Graduates
According to their website, graduated companies include Turnotech, Malik Creative Engineers, Duel Matrix Corporation (DMC), Askoli, Wissen, Somdata, Kreative Arts, ID Technologies, Gillani Software, Sotlet and Buru Seed Oil. Upon further research, I could not find any traces of Somdata but the other businesses seem to be on their way in the real world with offices in Islamabad.
The list of 25 current participants (direct, pre-incubation and virtual) is available here. The list is diverse in terms of industries, including HealthCare IT, software development, CRM, energy, aviation, social commerce, digital media and mobile app development. This is truly representative of the range of academic disciplines within engineering that the mammoth-sized university houses.
How to become an “Incubatee”
The process seems simple – fill out an application form and the incubator will assess the merits and demerits in a week and contact you if you make it to the second round. In the second round, the entrepreneurs are expected to provide more details about their plans, product and ideas. Once this information is furnished, senior management gets involved in making the final decision. The initial application asks pertinent questions about the business concept, financial features and marketing plan of the start-up idea.
Recent Events
According to their Facebook page, recent events hosted at TIC include a talk by the global head of business development at Amazon, Nokia’s Head of Corporate Strategy, Federal Minister for Science and Technology as well as NUST Business Plan Competition in collaboration with Mobilink.
Great Potential
The pieces are set for a great future in terms of successful business incubation from one of the leading engineering universities in the country. The level of detail and specification of services shows that the people behind TIC are not only experiences in the business, but that everything is well thought out and planned in advance. One issue that I can foresee is potential red-tape and bureaucracy that is common for large governmental organizations, it would be interesting to see how that plays in to the overall dynamics of the institution and its future success. However, in the entrepreneurial spirit, things might work out smoothly for all involved.
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