Visit to DERBI Incubation Center

Venue : DERBI Foundation, Dayananda Sagar university, 2nd Floor, Block 1,, Kudlu Gate, Hongasandra Village, Hosur Road,, Bengaluru, Karnataka-560068

Date: 9/12/2022

Summary : As an initiative taken up by the students of the entrepreneur club with the guidance and assistance of Prof. Roopashree ma’am and BBA coordinator Prof. Sanjeev, we visited an incubation center located in the Kudlu campus . The name of the incubator was DERBI (Dayananda Sagar Entrepreneurship Research and Business Incubation Foundation ) .

It was a 45-minute drive by bus . As majority of the students were not fully aware about the true purpose and significance of an incubator we were once again educated on the details and need for such organizations to exist and how exactly they play an important role in shaping a start-up and nurturing it in its early stages .

This concept was further explained by Ms.Bhavani who led us inside and showed us around the place . It was very spacious and the college had dedicated an entire floor for the incubator . The incubator contained several rooms and cubicles , which we were told was where the entrepreneurs would hold meetings and discuss the matters relating to their start-ups. There was a separate section for food and beverage and given the fact that being an entrepreneur is no easy task and that sometimes they would need to push themselves mentally , it was no surprise that the place had a unique smell of coffee.

As soon as we entered the center, we were led to the main hall where ma’am explained to us with a presentation how exactly the process of incubation works and what it really means to host an incubation center like what are the resources that will be required to run an incubation center and how they have nurtured young minds. We were told that the DERBI foundation was focused primarily on the healthcare start-ups and that they had a dedicated lab on the top floor for conducting tests which were essential in certifying whether the software being developed was effective and yielded results. More on that later . During the presentation , we were told about the various schemes that were being provided by the government to promote start-ups and how the government actually aided incubation centers in the form of providing funding . We also learnt about venture capitalists and how having one can really accelerate your growth in terms of acquiring funding for one’s start-up. Ma’am also gave us a firsthand look about the different features of the incubator and how one could greatly benefit by using equipment like 3-D printers and sensors for their start-up.

Next, we went around the incubator while listening to some of the bright minds who had been working on start-up projects since many months. We got to hear their idea and see them in action . It was very interesting to listen to some of the ideas as they were extremely innovative and I’m sure many of us were greatly enthusiastic about being an entrepreneur or working under one.

Next, we went to the top floor where they had various machinery . We were told that these machineries were in fact the 3-D printers that ma’am had been explaining about. They seemed quite compact and didn’t really occupy as much as space as we thought it would. There were a lot of items placed next to these printers . They items didn’t really have a specific shape nor did they resemble anything . These were the objects that had been printed in the past. Also, there was a pay-per-use option for these printers . Anyone could use them for their works. There was a main room that was unlocked for us to see. It contained various computer chips and robotic equipment. One of the incubators most prized possessions was the blood scanner . It was capable of searching one’s blood for toxins and other harmful chemicals . There were other machines of similar structure. We were also able to speak with some of the designers over there. These people actually created the model for the printers . Some of them there were in the technical sector. They were in charge of developing software for applications and modules. We learnt a lot talking to them and kind of understood how they keep themselves busy.