CHAPTER 9 ROLE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEURS' PARKS (STEPs) FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT The three regions selected for this study was based on the fact that Science and Technology Entrepreneurs' Parks (STEPs) are actively functioning in these three regions viz., Mysore, Mangalore, and Bagalkot. Thus, an attempt is made in this chapter to qualitatively analyze the role played by these STEPs in the entrepreneurship development of these three regions. 9.1 INTRODUCTION Science and Technology Entrepreneurs' Parks (STEPs) are autonomous bodies registered as societies under the Societies Registration Act or registered as not-forprofit companies under the provisions of Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956. The STEPs program was initiated to provide a re-orientation in the approach to irmovation and entrepreneurship involving education, training, research, finance and management. STEPs create the necessary climate for innovation, information exchange, sharing of experience and facilities and opening new avenues for students, teachers, researchers and industrial managers to grow in a trans-disciplinary culture, each others understanding, and other's inputs for starting a successful economic venture. STEPs are hardware intensive with emphasis on common facilities, services and relevant equipments. NSTEDB (National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board) has so far catalyzed 15 STEPs in different parts of India, which have promoted nearly 788 units generating annual turnover of around Rs. 130 crores and employment for about 5000 persons. More than 100 new products and technologies have been developed by the STEPs/STEP promoted entrepreneurs. In addition, over 11,000 persons have been trained through various skill development programs conducted by STEPs (NSTEDB Report - First status report on TBIs (Technology Business Incubators) in India 2009). The list of 15 STEPs actively working in India are shown in the Table 8.1 (NSTEDB website - www.nstedb.com). 117
The table provides various information pertaining to location, name, thrust area of functioning, year of starting of each of the 15 STEPs. Table 9.1 List of Actively Functioning STEPs in India (Source: www.nstedb.com) Si. No. State Name of the STEP Thrust area Year of Establishment Working Place 1 Gujarat NSIC Technical Services Centre Energy, Pumps 2005 Rajkot 2 New Delhi National Small Industries Corporation Limited Energy, Pumps 2005 New Delhi 3 Jharkhand STEP-Birla Institute of Technology Mechanical Engg Ranclii 4 Karnataka SJCE-STEP'" Electronics and IT Mysore 5 Karnataka NITK-STEP" IT 2004 Surathkal 6 Karnataka BEC-STEP" Food Processing, Textiles, Building Bagalkot 7 Maharashtra Science and Technology Park University of Pune IT and Innovative Technologies 1994 Pune 8 Madhya Pradesh Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology IT and Innovative Technologies ~ Bhopal 9 Panjab Thapar University Agri-biotechnology, Bio-fertilizer, Food, Biotechnology, Tissue Culture. 2004 Patiala 10 Punjab Guru Nanak Dev College of Engineering Mechanical and IT Ludhiana 11 Tamilnadu TREC-STEP Mechanical and IT 2004 Tiruchirappalli 12 Tamilnadu PSG - STEP Mechanical and IT 1998 Coimbatore 13 Uttar Pradesh Harcourt Butler Technological Institute Paints, Chemical, IT Kanpur 14 Uttarakhand Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee Environment, Materials and IT Roorkee 15 West Bengal Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur Agri Products, Mechanical & IT 1988 Kharagpur Note: ** Three active STEPs working in Karnataka. 118
9.2 AN OVERVIEW OF THE STEPS IN THE SELECTED THREE REGIONS This section aims at presenting various aspects of STEPs functioning in the three selected regions such as salient features, existing facilities, services offered, technologies transferred and employment generated by the STEPs. 9.2.1 SJCE-STEP, MYSORE SJCE-STEP is hosted by Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering (SJCE). It was established in 1985. Table 9.2 shows information about administrative, incubation and seed fund of SJCE-STEP. This STEP is offering considerable number of facilities and services to tenant and outside entrepreneurs. Table 9.2 Features of SJCE - STEP (Source: www.nstedb.com) Administrative Established Thrust Areas Legal status Affiliation 1985 Information Technology and Electronics Registered Society Technical Institution / University linked Incubation Floor area available for each incubatee Average period of incubation Capacity Incubated Employment generated 500, 1200 and 4000 sq. ft 2-3 years 10 companies 150 More than 2500 SEED Fund Sanctioning agency Sanctioned amount DST Rs. l.oocrore 119
The major facilities existing and services offered by this STEP is shown in Table 9.3 and 9.4. The technologies transferred and employment generated by this STEP is given in Table 9.5. The SJCE-STEP has secured the "Best STEP" award from Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India (GOI) for the year 2000. Table 9.3 Facilities offered by SJCE-STEP Basic Facilities Support Facilities Incubation space Power Internet Telephone Xerox Fax Office Furniture Testing and Calibration Personal Computers Data bank Library and documentation Prototype development Quality assurance centre Conference / Seminar hall Table 9.4 Services Offered by SJCE-STEP Basic Services Support Services Training Product development Process development Human Resources Technical support Common Utility Escorting to ISO 120
Table 9.5 Technologies Transferred and Employment Generated by the SJCE- STEP Technologies Transferred: (up to the year 2011) Total training programs conducted Total number of workshops organized Total number of Technical Consultancy activities 591 23 25 Employment Generated: (up to the year 2011) Total number of Employment generated Total number of successful tenant entrepreneur from the STEP 12,270 08 9.2.2 NITK-STEP, SURATHKAL/MANGALORE NITK-STEP is hosted by National Institute of Technolgy, Surathkal (NITK). It was established in the year 1994. This STEP focuses on incubating IT, Engineering Design and Multi-technology integration ventures. This STEP has graduated 23 firms which have created jobs for more than 1200 individuals while generating revenues worth Rs. 20 Crores. National Institute of Technology Kamataka (NITK), Surathkal, the institution which hosts NITK-STEP, is a residential Engineering college. The Institute is located amid 300 acres of sylvan surroundings on the east and sun-kissed sands of the Arabian Sea to the west and 22 kilometers North of Mangalore City along the Kanyakumari-Mumbai National Highway 17, NITK is easily accessible from all parts of the country. Table 9.6 provides information about administrative, incubation and seed fund of NITK - STEP. 121
Table 9.6 Features of NITK-STEP (Source: www.nstedb.com) Administrative Established Thrust Areas 1994 IT, Engineering Design, Multi technology integration Legal status Affiliation Registered Society Technical Institution / University linked Incubation Floor area available/incubatee Average period of incubation Capacity Incubated number Employment generated 150sq. ft 2.75 years 10 companies 30 More than 2500 SEED Fund Sanctioning agency Sanctioned amount DST Rs. 1 Crore This STEP is offering a number of facilities and services to tenant and outside entrepreneurs. The major facilities and services offered by this STEP is provided in Table 9.7 and 9.8. The technologies transferred and employment generated by this STEP is given in Table 9.9. 122
Table 9.7 Facilities offered by NITK-STEP Basic Facilities Incubation space Power Office furniture Conference / Seminar hall Support Facilities Testing and Calibration Prototype development Quality assurance centre Table 9.8 Services Offered by NITK-STEP Basic Services Support Services Training Product development Process development Human resources Research Technical support Common utility Escorting to ISO Table 9.9 Technologies Transferred and Employment Generated by the NITK- STEP Technologies Transferred: (up to the year 2011) Total training programs conducted Total number of workshops organized Total number of Technical consultant activities 235 35 12 Employment Generated: (up to the year 2011) Total number of Employment generated Total number of successful tenant entrepreneur from the STEP 5000 62 123
9.2.3 BEC- STEP, BAGALKOT BEC-STEP is hosted in Basaveshwar Engineering College (BEC), Bagalkot, which was founded in 1963. BEC-STEP was established in 1999, focused on incubating startups in the areas of Food Processing, Textile technology (both handloom and power loom) and low-cost building Technology. BEC-STEP has incubated 29 firms in less than nine years since its inception. Possessing three specialized pilot plants for food processing and one Textile Pilot Plant, BEC-STEP offers its incubatees access to resources not available to most fledgling businesses. Such unparalleled access has contributed considerably to the success of the incubatee companies of BEC-STEP. This STEP is offering significant number of facilities and services to tenant and outside entrepreneurs. Table 9.10 gives information of about administrative, incubation and seed fund of BEC-STEP. Table 9.10 Features of BEC-STEP (Source: www.nstedb.com) Administrative Established Thrust Areas 1999 Food Processing, Textile Technology, Building Technology Legal status Affiliation Registered Society Technical Institution / University linked Incubation Floor area available for each incubate Average period of incubation Capacity Incubated 150sq. ft 6 Months 07 companies 29 SEED Fund Sanctioning agency Sanctioned amount DST Rs. 1 Crore 124
The major facilities and services offered by this STEP is provided in Table 9.11 and 9.12. Technologies transferred and employment generated by this STEP is shown in Table 9.13. This STEP secured the "Best STEP" award from DST, GOI for the year 2007. Table 9.11 Facilities offered by BEC-STEP Basic Facilities Support Facilities Incubation space Power Telephone Testing and Calibration Pilot plant facility Office furniture Table 9.12 Services Offered by BEC-STEP Basic Services Support Services Training Product development Process development Technical support Common utility Human resources Table 9.13 Technologies Transferred and Employment Generated by the BEC- STEP Technologies Transferred: (up to the year 2011) Total training programs conducted Total number of workshops organized Total number of Technical consultant activities 95 45 204 Employment Generated: (up to the year 2011) Total number of Employment generated Total number of successful tenant entrepreneur from the STEP 800 05 125
9.3 SUMMARY AND COMPARISON OF THREE REGIONS One of the objectives of this study is to find role of STEPs for the entrepreneurship development in the three regions. Based on experts opinion, analyzing the role of STEPs for entrepreneurship development considered three criteria, viz., Facilities offered. Services offered, and Technologies transferred to entrepreneurs per year by the STEPs. Two types of facilities offered by the STEPs: Basic Facilities, and Support Facilities. Similarly two types of service facilities are also offered, viz., Basic Service, and Support Services. Basic facilities and basic services are essential need for all tenant and common entrepreneurs. Support facilities and services are offered by the STEPs based on entrepreneurs' requirements, type of industry, and based on the nature of problems faced by them. The role of STEP is assessed by number of facilities provided, number of services provided, and the number of technologies transfer to the entrepreneurs per year. In section 9.2, data pertaining to these aspects are already presented. Average number of Technologies Transferred (ATT) is calculated by dividing the total number of technologies transferred by the number of years of existence of the STEP till 2011. For example, ATT is calculated for SJCE-STEP (Mysore region) as follows: ATT = (Total number of technologies transferred) r (Number of years of existence from establishment to 2011) = (591+23+25)+ (2011-1985) = (639 -f 26) =24.58, rounded to 25. Likewise, it is calculated for other STEPs (other regions) as well. The calculated values are presented in the Table 9.14. 126
Table 9.14 Region (STEPS) Mysore Mangalore Bagalkot Result of No. of Facilities, No. of Services, and ATT for Three regions Number of Number of Average Technologies Facilities Services Transferred per year (ATT) (NF) (NS) 14 07 25 07 08 17 06 06 28 A bar graph presented in Figure 9.1 clearly brings out a comparison of the role played by the three STEPs functioning in the respective regions. The number of facilities offered by the SJCE-STEP is much higher compared to the other two regions. There is nothing much to chose any of the three STEPs based on number of services offered by them. On the basis of average number of technology transferred BEC-STEP is slightly ahead of SJCE-STEP Overall, it appears that SJCE-STEP has a slight edge over the other two STEPs, which does not mean in any way the other two STEPs are not doing well. D Mysore (SJCE-STEP) Mangalore (NITK-STEP) D Bagalkot (BEC-STEP) NF NS ATT Figure 9.1 Results of NF, NS and ATT for the three regions Finally, it can be observed that the STEPs in the three regions of this study have contributed for creation and nurturing of entrepreneurship. It is worthwhile to support and strengthen such STEPs for development and growth of entrepreneurship through creation of more and more number of MSMEs in the years to come. 127