tried to convince many Vice Chancellors and other senior scientists to start having courses on entrepreneurship for students  from various scientific streams. among variosu ideas discussed were:

a) if value addition in agriculture sector continues to be so poor as it is, then how will we help our farmers get better prices and income

b) incubators should  not concern themsleves with only market driven technologies but also look at sustainable technologies which may not be commercializable, e.g growing lady’s finger plants around cotton crop to trap pests. In suhc cases, social venture funds must be set up to support service entreprenurs who will diffuse such knowledge with poor farmers. How else will such knowledge reach farmers. I gave example of children of suicde affected families not having access to this knowledge till recently.

c) the public universities and icar institutions should share their infrastrcuture with buddung entreprenurs rather liberally and without many restrictions. These entreprenurs will generate opportunities for the students and and bring new knowledge into the campus. Why could universities share all their infrastructure in lieu of small equity.

more later

Anil K Gupta