Indian Institute of Technology-Hyderabad (IIT-H) is going to collaborate with New Frontier Capital Management, a financial firm based in Hong Kong with offices in Tokyo and Singapore, to establish a global network for ventures as well as to create a venture ecosystem. The core objective of this partnership will be to promote innovation, research and incubation.
An MoU was signed by Prof BS Murty, Director, IIT-H and Shigeki Usuki, Chief Executive Officer, New Frontier Capital Management, to facilitate this collaboration. This MoU will also enable New Frontier Capital Management to establish an office at the IIT-H campus.
Speaking about this collaboration and its benefits to the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem at IIT Hyderabad, Prof B.S. Murty, Director, IIT Hyderabad, said,“IIT Hyderabad incessantly encourages the entrepreneurship ecosystem with its unique B-Tech minor in entrepreneurship and it’s tech incubators like i-TIC and CfHE. With a surge in start-up culture globally, we have taken a major step forward and have signed an MoU with an established venture capitalist, New Frontier Capital Management (NFCM), which has a worldwide presence including in Tokyo and Singapore. Joint innovation centre in Tokyo and IIT-H campus along with an office for NFCM at IIT-H campus will provide a global platform for IIT-H incubatees. This will indeed strengthen the distinctive bond IIT-H shares with Japan and opens up new opportunities for research and promotes the culture of entrepreneurship.”
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The MoU also envisages the establishment of ‘Joint Innovation Centres’ in Tokyo, Japan, as well as in Telangana and will help create an ecosystem that is connected to global research institutions.
IIT-H places a lot of emphasis on entrepreneurship and innovation as part of its undergraduate program, which has resulted in a growing number of students starting their own ventures or joining startups.
Highlighting the expected outcomes from this collaboration, Mr. Usuki, CEO of New Frontier Capital Management, said, “Japanese corporations have a very strong interest in innovation coming out of India. Through the collaboration with IIT-H, we expect to further the mutual relationship between India and Japan especially in the fields of venture and innovation. The MoU will enable us to establish our office in the IIT-H campus to promote more information sharing both ways and, in such case, we expect broader development of the India-Japan collaboration.”
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IIT-H has a very vibrant incubation and research park ecosystems. The focus is on deep tech companies.IIT-H is a source of early stage ideas, research, incubation and technologies, especially in the fields of 5G, IoT, Fabless Chip Health Care, AI and advanced technologies operates three different technology business incubators, namely i-TIC Foundation IIT-H (iTIC), Centre for Healthcare (CfHE) and Fabless Chip Incubator (FabCI). This MoU will allow IIT-H to seek funding from the global funds operated by NFCM for its incubators and accelerator programs.
This collaboration will also facilitate the introduction of more Japanese and global companies to IIT-H to promote research and development, innovation and incubation.