Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has launched a ‘Centre for Research on Start-Ups and Risk Financing' (CREST) to provide academic and thought leadership in innovation, entrepreneurship and risk capital. It would also create a data repository on Indian start-ups and ventures to address a hurdle for engaging in high-quality research. This information resource will be made accessible for researchers and policymakers that can result in top-tier publications.
Delivering the inaugural keynote Lecture of CREST on Tuesday on ‘Cultivating societal trust can unlock India's Entrepreneurial Potential,' Professor Tarun Khanna, Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor, Harvard Business School, said, “Entrepreneurs with great ideas in developing countries cannot rely on the usual trust-building foundations - law, regulatory oversight, and government projects, as they might in the developed world. Assuming the existence of these phantom factors predisposes ventures not to succeed at scale. Instead, smart entrepreneurs in these countries need a mindset shift, focusing not only on creating but also the conditions to create these.”
With risk capital investment in Indian technology start-ups touching $68 Billion (Rs 4,76,000 crore approximately) in the period between 2011-20, academic research and thought leadership can play an important role in sustaining and furthering this growth in entrepreneurship.
Further, Professor Tarun Khanna said, “There is a need to build trust between Scientists and business leaders. Amazing technology is coming out of the labs but the condition to get the maximum out of such innovations is not there.”
The key mission of CREST would be to engage in scholarly research encompassing the areas of innovation, entrepreneurship, and risk capital. The data repository being developed on innovation, venturing and risk capital will create the infrastructure to carry out high-quality research.
The Vision of CREST include:
To be globally recognized as a leading centre of research engaged in scholarly research in the areas of creation, development, and financing of innovation, start-ups, and entrepreneurship.
Cross country collaborative research, resulting in the use of unique data sets on start-ups and venture capital that increases the chances of breakthrough findings.
Evidence synthesis on the start-up and innovation ecosystem to inform policymakers and practitioners.
The Current Projects and Studies of CREST include:
Book Project - Shifting Orbits: Decoding the trajectory of the Indian Start-up Ecosystem (Thillai Rajan A, IIT Madras, Srivardhini K. Jha, IIM Bangalore, Joffi Thomas, IIM Kozhikode, Rohan Chinchwadkar, IIT Bombay)
Research Studies–
Role and Effect of Corporate Venture Capital Investments: Evidence from Indian Corporations (Arushi Gupta, IIT Madras)
Angel investors in India: Does the start-up stage matter? (A. Niroopa Rani, IIT Madras)
Performance of Start-up Incubators: Do host organizations matter? (Abhishek Gupta, IIT Madras)
Entrepreneurship at the Grass Roots: Challenges faced by Rural Women Entrepreneurs of Tamil Nadu (Aarthi Ramachandran, IIT Madras)
