Startups

 

JNCASR,  through  its Technical  Research  Center  (TRC),  is among  the  very  few  Indian  public  funded  R&D  institutes that   have   taken   up   commercialization   of   ‘high   risk–high   potential’   technologies   for   global   markets.   TRC,   established  in  2016  with  support  from  DST,  GOI,  is  a multifaceted  platform  with  a  mission  to  provide  techno-legal-commercial   and   financial   support   to   scientists, entrepreneurs,     and     business     fraternity     to     achieve translation of research into products and processes by:

•Supporting application-oriented projects to build upon background  intellectual  properties  (IP)  developed  at JNCASR, and also to create new IP;

•Bolstering    JNCASR-industry    partnerships    via    out-licensing   of   IP/know-how,   industry-sponsored   R&D projects,  industrial  consulting,  and  collaborative  R&D projects;

•Creating conducive ecosystem to spin-off technologies/intellectual    properties    developed    by JNCASR through start-ups; and

 •Developing   R&D   infrastructure   required   to   perform translational R&D. Following are examples of the start-up venturesFollowing are examples of the start-up ventures

Following are examples of the start-up ventures:

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Examples  include  a  research  project,  supported  by  TRC, focused   on   developing   low-cost,   non-invasive   method for  HIV  diagnosis  and  other  types  of  infectious  diseases using   Raman   spectroscopy.   A   low-cost   method   for   management  of  red  palm  weevil  and  rhinoceros  beetle  in coconut  plantations  has  been  licensed  to  two  industrial  partners.  One  project  deals  with  thermoelectric  materials and  conversion  of  waste  heat  to  electrical  energy,  while another  project  aims  at  developing  non-Pt  based  ordered inter metallic nanoparticles as electrode materials for fuel cell green energy production. Through such projects, TRC aims  to  promote  translational  research,  and  contribute  towards strengthening the country’s excellence in science by   striking   the   right   balance   between   fundamental   research, directed development, and deployment. Since  inception,  TRC  has  supported  ~30  R&D  projects, licensed  more  than  a  dozen  and  a  built  a  pipeline  of  ~10 technologies/IPs,  initiated  three  start-up  companies,  with two more in the pipeline, supported more than 20 patents, collaborated  with  more  than  10  industrial  partners,  set  up  a  state-of-the-art  R&D  infrastructure,  and  built  a  wider network  of  R&D  stakeholders  with  conducive  innovation ecosystem.

Sankhya Sutra Labs (SSL) Pvt. Ltd.

SSL  is  the  first  start-up  initiated  at  JNCASR  in  2016,  and was  co-founded  by  Prof.  Santosh  Ansumali  (EMU).  The only  company  of  its  kind  in  Asia,  SSL  provides  high-end Computational Fluid Dynamics and simulation solutions for complex product development problems, with applications ranging from precision engineering to aerospace to defense to  cement  plants.  In  a  short  span  of  time,  SSL  has  made substantial  progress  in  terms  of  garnering  investments, building  its  core  team  and  a  robust  sales  pipeline,  and  securing  angel  and  series-A  investments.  Recently,  SSL successfully graduated from JNCASR.

HBAROMEGA Pvt. Ltd.:

This company was envisioned as a start-up with expertise in  photovoltaics  (PV),  with  the  challenge  to  identify  and filter  out  underperforming  and  defective  PV  panels.  The company aims to accomplish this by making use of a simple yet powerful technique of light beam induced photocurrent (LBIC) to identify at an early stage the majority of defects that can compromise the performance of a PV panel. The start-up has been developing this technology and is geared-up to commercialize the technique of LBIC for large area panels in  manufacturing  and  installation  environments.  The  aim is to bring this technique into mainstream production and quality control process for both domestic and international markets in order to improve reliability of PV panels which will, in turn, improve lifetime and energy payback. Another important objective is to minimize the huge pileup of solar panels  in  landfills,  resulting  from  sub-optimal  panels,  and ground water contamination that follows large-scale solar PV panel waste.

Breathe Applied Sciences Pvt. Ltd.

(BAS)JNCASR faculty members Prof. Umesh Waghmare and Prof. Sebastian Peter, along with Dr. Rakshith Raghavan (JNCASR alumni) formed a team to take part in the global $20 million NRG COSIA Carbon XPrize Competition, hosted by the XPrize Foundation, USA. The team led by Prof. Peter submitted its proposal focused towards converting carbon dioxide to methanol, based on which it entered the final round (only Indian team to do so). he overall technology development is centered with the discovery of novel catalysts by Prof. Sebastian C. Peter and his research group. The group also designed the process engineering, which integrated with other components to make a turnkey project for the efficient utilization of anthropogenic CO2. The team is now in the process of developing and commercializing the proposed cutting-edge technology that fits perfectly under the umbrella of methanol economy, import substitution, and Make in India. Moreover, the technology can also be extended to a host of other chemicals. The team is currently refining its technology and business plan and scaling-up its technology.

 

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