How Chandigarh University Students Building Startups and becoming Job Creators

There have been times when students have come up with an idea but are not sure how to put it into action. Perhaps it began as hitting a sketch in their notebook, or it may have came up during a casual conversation with their friends, or during a “what if” conversation in class. It is possible the students know it could address a real problem or turn into the next startup, but they are clueless on what should be done next. Whether it should be funded or made into a real business. So many students stop there and feel that being entrepreneurial is meant for someone else.

Chandigarh University is changing this exact mindset. At this university, being entrepreneurial is not just an extra curricular club, it is a serious, government-supported, structured way of thinking. From the first flicker of a student's idea, university allows students to access funding, mentorship, and infrastructure to develop their curiosity into an entrepreneurial venture or business.

The Technology Business Incubator (CU-TBI) at Chandigarh University utilizes a step by step ecosystem: awareness and idea validation, structured incubation and skill training, and funding and scaling for students. Students not only learn about starting a business, they live it, with mentorship and support at every step.

CU is creating the next generation of job creators, innovators, and industry leaders. Students get access to resources that helps them turn their ideas from informal thoughts into companies, patents, products, or ready for market solutions.

Phase 1 - The Spark – Awareness, Funding, and IP Protection

While you cannot build a startup, you can validate, protect, and develop an idea. At CU, we focus on transforming “curiosity” into a tangible, protectable concept.

Nurturing the Idea: Early-Stage Funding and IPR

CU created the Entrepreneurship & IPR Cell in 2014, it was step one for ideating innovation into institutions. Students were immediately encouraged to patent their ideas, receive guidance on intellectual property, and potentially protect their ideas from the first day.

Funding began with a base of ₹25,000 a project for prototyping. In 2015 CU received, from the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Engineering and Technology. This allowed the students to receive funding for prototyping up to ₹1 lakh and the administration trustees raised further funding for the prototyping projects a year from 5 to 10.

 In the first two years, through eleven additional patent applications, students produced 14 prototypes, and assured over 40 patent applications that became the foundation for CU to be recognized, at a later date, as the #1 institution in India for patent applications amongst other scientific R&D organizations.

This early-stage support allows students to have generated submitted ideas that are validated and protected, ready to move into some level of professional development and improvement. When students reach this stage, they are better prepared to take advantage of programs like Campus Tank, which uses seed funding, mentorship, investor access, and immersive incubation to develop the ideas into companies that may be scalable and ready for market entry. In other words, what started out as a flicker of curiosity at CU has moved through supported stages and eventually reached a program like Campus Tank, where student entrepreneurs obtain the skills, tools, and resources to get a real business underway.

Events and Exposure

CU does not confine innovation to classrooms or laboratories. Programs such as Ignite and Entrexcellence offer students opportunities to present their ideas, receive constructive feedback and improve their storytelling pitches for potential investors. Internationally recognized paradigm shifting leaders of institutions have also come to CU-TBI to support students. Nobel Laureate Professor Mohammad Yunus was a guest speaker who also focused students to not just consider profit from business ideas, rather develop ethical and social entrepreneurship programs.

The objective of Phase 1 is easy to understand: give students the support and confidence to transition outside thoughts and into a validated and protectable idea, along with early stage financial and legal support.

Phase 2 - The Build – Incubation, Training, and Professionalization

The first phase consists of aggregation, validation, and supporting idea development. If the idea is validated then we can proceed to create a legitimate business. CU's Technology Business Incubator or (CU-TBI) which is modeled after other established technology incubators that are supported and governed by NSTEDB (National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board) and Nidhi -SSS to support CU community members with a structured and curated 18 month incubator to help the students legitimize their startup business professionally.

Structured Incubation and Infrastructure

CU-TBI provides workspace, access to laboratories, and technical assistance to startups. For many students, these resources fill a gap that would otherwise require significant capital investment to set up either an office space, a lab, or a manufacturing space. The startups also have access to business services, mentorship, and operational support—that allows the entrepreneur to focus on product and market fit, and not the administration that comes with it.    

Administrative and Skill Development

CU equips students to appropriately deal with the complexities of organizing a business. Founders can prepare a Pitch Deck, learn to prepare business plans that appeal to funders, manage their registration process and compliance and access government schemes such as Startup India, Mudra Loans and grants. Each startup is enabled to be technically sound, legally compliant and financially sound.

Over 120 startups have been incubated, with 22 on graduation from the incubator. Graduating in Phase 2, the data shows not only that CU does not simply teach entrepreneurship, but organizes it and finds ways to mobilize these ideas.

Phase 3 - The Scale – Funding, Venture Capital, and Market Entry

Having a validated prototype and an incorporated business is just a beginning. To really succeed, a startup needs capital, market access, and mentorship to take it to the next level. CU ensures that students get to this stage first, through direct seed support and access to investors.

Seed Funding and Investor Access

CU-TBI provides INR 500,000 of seed funding per startup to help with the final validation / transition of a prototype to a product ready for the marketplace. Investor Meets, including events like the CAB Visit, provide the opportunity for students to pitch their business and/or prototype to 50+ regional investors and national and private banks. This is often the first opportunity for young founders (under 30 for the most part) to pitch and experience authentic business investment ready feedback from finance professionals who have been educated and practiced for many years.

Campus Tank: The Ultimate Accelerator

Last, but certainly not least, is Campus Tank, which is probably the most exciting aspect of building a job creator. It is the final chapter of "incubated" startups transitioning from a prototype to real life (or funded) scalable businesses. Campus Tank, collaboratively launched with Apna and Venture Catalysts (VCats) is India's first "University based Startup Launchpad".  It is the highest level in CU's three-stage founder journey & high level elite stage with some of the youngest/best entrepreneurs in India.

The Venture Capital Difference

Campus Tank is more than a typical business plan competition; it is India's first university led startup launchpad to invest in capital, mentorship and strategic assistance in the youngest innovators in the country.

Real Investment Pool

Founders under 30's will compete for funding from a pooled pledge of up to $1 Million, with select editions like Campus Tank Punjab offering up to $6 Million in funding.  This ensures that promising ideas actually have financial backing to grow into a startup that is venture ready.

Access to Top Investors

Selected teams will showcase their ventures on Demo Day to top investors from Venture Catalysts and receive strategic advice and mentorship along with funding.  This type of exposure would typically only be found in major startup hubs so we can provide student founders early access to capital and advice.

Immersive Incubation

In addition to continued incubation support from Cube Founders Space at Chandigarh University, teams will engage in masterclasses and training sessions from experienced founders and industry experts to further strengthen both the technical and business skills needed to grow an idea that can be scaled into a venture.

Impact and Vision

Campus Tank was created in partnership with Apna, India’s largest early talent platform, and Venture Catalysts, India’s largest early-stage investment and incubator company. Supported by Chandigarh University, Campus Tank is the world's first pre-accelerator that focuses on supporting problem-solvers, dreamers, and doers by providing students with the capabilities to turn their casual ideas into real market-ready startups.

"Campus Tank is a step in the direction of building a Viksit Bharat by 2047," said CU Chancellor Satnam Singh Sandhu. "We want students to be job providers and not job seekers." This also aligns with the Startup India mission to support India's startup ecosystem, and to build the next-generation unicorn and the innovator pipeline.

Chandigarh University has founded over 150 student startups since 2012, including 8 women-led startups across multiple sectors of AgriTech, EdTech, MedTech, FinTech, Cleantech, Blockchain, and Waste Management. Campus Tank ensures students have the funding, experts, and ecosystem necessary to grow ideas from concept to business with impact.

Further Support for Women Entrepreneurs, Patents, and Skills

CU drives inclusivity and the development of patents. Examples of women-centric startups it has incubated and funded include FITOUT, SHWT+, CIRCLES, VERIFY D, and TRI BIOMETRIC. Patents are actively encouraged, and students are supported through the step so a student can file IP (data/guidance).

CU provides skill development, ensuring students experience/learn digital marketing, product management, finance, design thinking, analytics, so the students have the ability to work professionally on an idea ( a tech product/service).  Students have the option of teaming with others from another discipline in the program to develop a route to market for their tech solution.

Conclusion

Chandigarh University has built an ecosystem that prepares entrepreneurship to become a professional path as opposed to just a concept. Leveraging early awareness and funding, the structured incubation and mentorship, and scaling with seed funding and venture funding supports students as they transition from an idea hand drawn on a napkin - to a fundable and operational startup.

As a result, an entire generation of students is being developed as job creators and not just job seekers, complete with patents, education and training, mentorship, and real funding to see their ideas developed into marketable reality. It seems that education and entrepreneurship are perfectly aligned at CU, resulting in the emergence of a strong launch pad for student innovators in India.

Note: The views expressed in this article are of Chandigarh University and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha.