Institution’s Innovation Council (IIC)

1. Stakeholder Definition

Innovation and Startup Cell — The Startup & Innovation Cell was formed with an aim to create an integrated, college-based innovation ecosystem to support innovations and ideas of faculty members and young students and provide a conducive place and environment for optimum output of their thoughts and creative ideas.

Chairman — The Chairman is the head of the Governing Body of the Innovation and Startup Cell.

Incubatee — This policy is applicable to any person who receives any direct or indirect benefit under the programme when accepted into the start-up policy programme:

• BPPIMT students and faculty
• BPPIMT Alumni
• BPPIMT Staff (Technical and Administrative)

Startup — A Startup is an entity registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. All Directors of the Startup must be Incubatees.

Mentor — A Mentor is an external or internal subject matter expert who provides guidance to the Incubatees, without any stake in their Startup.

Chief Executive Officer — The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the executive head of the Innovation and Startup Cell.

2. Statutory Recognition of the Innovation and Startup Cell

• Type of body: Not for profit
• Registration status: Section 25 of Company Act 1953
• Taxation status: Indian Tax Residency
• Registered address: Chief Executive Officer, Innovation & Startup Cell, B. P. Poddar Institute of Management and Technology, 137, Poddar Vihar, V.I.P. Road, Kolkata-700052

3. Organizational Structure

Governing Body

De facto membership:

• Chairman (BPPIMT)
• Vice Chairman (BPPIMT)
• Chief Mentor (BPPIMT)
• Principal (BPPIMT)
• Registrar (BPPIMT)
• IIC (Institution’s Incubation Cell) President (BPPIMT)
• NISP (National Innovation and Startup Policy) Coordinator (BPPIMT)
• T&P Cell Head (BPPIMT)

Selected membership:

• Alumni (BPPIMT)
• Industry Expert
• Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Roles and responsibilities: To propose and vote for resolutions taken in the Governing Body meetings.

Executive Body

The executive body will be led by a Chief Executive Officer (CEO), tasked with executing the growth strategy of the Incubation Centre (IC). The governing body of the IC will constitute a selection panel for the role of CEO and will appoint a suitable candidate based on the recommendations of the selection panel. The selection panel will consider a pool of candidates based on a public recruitment notification and internal job postings. The CEO’s office will report to the Chairperson of the governing body. Remuneration and benefits of the CEO will be subject to achieving or exceeding the IC’s growth strategy defined by the governing body.

The CEO may hire additional support staff by constituting a selection panel, in consultation with the governing body. The CEO will have a vote to break a tie in the selection panel’s recommended candidate.

The CEO’s office will have the following responsibilities:

• Appoint support staff to drive IC operations
• Ensure quality of services to incubated startups
• Mentor onboarding to align with the thrust areas
• Adherence to the guidelines and operating policies of the IC
• Generating revenue through successful exits of incubated companies

Financial Oversight — Existing Auditor of BPPIMT Trust

Legal Oversight — Existing Lawyer of BPPIMT Trust

4. Funding Vehicle

Regular Contributory Policy

• An ‘Innovation Fund’ will be created for funding and supporting innovation and startup-related activities. 1% of the total annual budget of the institution will be allocated at the beginning of every financial year.
• Proceeds from the sale of equity in incubated startups.

Adhoc Contributory Policy

The executive body will approach:

• External funding agencies through the government (state and central) such as DST, DBT, MHRD, AICTE, TDB, TIFAC, DSIR, CSIR, BIRAC, NSTEDB, NRDC, Startup India, Invest India, MeitY, MSDE, MSME, etc. and non-government sources.
• Private and corporate sectors to generate funds under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as per Section 135 of the Company Act 2013.
• The alumni of the Institute to raise funding through sponsorships and donations.

Statutory Signatories:

• Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
• Governing Body Member

5. Meeting Schedule and Communication Plan of Governing Body

Schedule of General Meetings and Annual General Meetings

Governing body members are required to meet at least 3–4 times a year and one annual general meeting should also be convened. In order to be a valid meeting, the notice must be given by a person duly authorised by the governing body.

Quorum

In order that a meeting may be properly constituted and the agenda be validly transacted, a quorum of members, which is minimum 1/3rd of the members, should be present in any meeting.

Order of Business

The agenda for the meeting would be pre-decided and circulated among all members.

Chairmanship and Decision Making

The Chairman will chair every such meeting; in his absence the meeting will be chaired by a dignitary as per hierarchy. Upon proposal by a present member and ratification by voting, any resolution will be made.

Conditions for Convening an Extraordinary General Meeting

If any emergency issue arises which needs to be dealt with in between two general meetings, an extraordinary meeting may be convened by intimating the members of the governing body.

6. Meeting of Executive Body

Schedule of Meetings

The CEO may convene a meeting anytime during the year depending on requirement.

7. Amendment Policy

Request for Amendment

The CEO and the members of the governing body can propose an amendment to this policy.

Resolution on an Amendment

A resolution for amendment can be proposed at any ordinary or extraordinary meeting of the governing body and must be seconded by another member.

Voting Rights

All members of the governing body are eligible to cast one vote for the resolution.

Quorum for Amendment

The amendment resolution must be passed by a simple majority to be accepted. The resolution must be recorded in the minutes of the meeting.

Enforcement of the Amendment Resolution

The amendment must be reflected in this policy document within 3 months of a resolution having been passed.

8. Mentoring Policy

Mentor Prequalifications

A mentor must be sufficiently qualified as a subject matter expert and must be appointed by a resolution of the governing body. Mentors are expected to have deep industry connections and affiliations to respective trade bodies.

Minimum Time Commitments

Mentors must commit to a minimum time availability per month. This time can be utilized towards sitting fees at committee meetings, evaluation processes or active guidance to incubatees.

Mentorship Compensation Policy

The governing body will approve compensation for mentors via resolution. The compensation shall take into account the minimum time commitments as well as time spent over and above those minimums. Compensation to mentors will be paid out from the incubation cell’s budget.

9. Incubatee Onboarding Policy

Onboarding of Incubatees will be done through either a Cohort system or from time-to-time idea pitching sessions organised by the NISP cell.

KYC Policy

Incubatee must submit the following documents:

• Identity Proof — Passport, PAN card, Aadhaar card, driver’s license, or voter’s ID
• Address Proof — Electricity bills, telephone bills, Passport, Aadhaar card, or voter’s ID
• Proof of Age — Copy of passport or PAN card
• Signature — Bank-verified statements or PAN card
• Photos — 2 passport-size copies

Academic Requirements

Incubatee must have enrolled in or completed graduation.

10. Idea Evaluation Policy

The governing body shall approve an evaluation rubric for standardized evaluation of proposals submitted by incubatees. The rubric can be modified once per academic year to ensure consistency of evaluation within a cohort. By default, the existing rubric will continue into the next academic year if there are no resolutions for amendment.

The rubric shall take into account the following parameters (non-exhaustive):

• Prior art and market gap
• Impact sector and addressable market
• Development roadmap
• Resource requirements
• Asks from incubation centre
• Time to PoC
• Time to MVP
• GTM plan
• Time to market
• Fail plan

11. Startup Registration Policy

Type of Startup Supported

By default, a startup will be registered as an LLP organization with at least two Directors.

Authorized Capital

The default authorized capital for a startup will be ₹1,00,000 and 10,000 shares of face value INR 10 will be created.

Paid-up Capital

The default paid-up capital for a startup will be ₹1,00,000, to be deposited in the authorized current account of the Startup. The paid-up capital will be sourced in part from the Directors and the Incubation Cell. However, the Incubation Cell will provide resources and facilities in lieu of its share of authorized capital. The Incubation Cell will receive up to 9.5% of shares in the startup for its investments.

Startup Directorship

Directors in a startup must be incubatees registered with the Incubation Cell. A serving faculty member can become an additional director in the Startup. The Incubation Cell, through its representative, will continue to have a vote on the Startup’s board meetings as long as it remains a shareholder.

MCA, GST and DIN Registration

The statutory and legal charges for MCA registration, Startup India registration, GST registration and DIN registration will be borne by the Innovation Cell, out of the cell’s contribution towards authorised capital.

Startup Registration Address

The Startup will use the Incubation Cell’s address as its registered address for MCA registration and trade license.

Seed Capital

Apart from investments towards statutory requirements, the Incubation Cell will provide up to INR 50,000 as seed capital towards procurement of equipment, expertise, or services deemed necessary for creating a minimum viable product. The quantum of funds would need to be approved by the CEO based on budgets proposed by the Directors of the Startup. Any such procurement will remain the property of the Incubation Cell and may be made available for common use across incubated Startups. Additional funding may be granted subject to a resolution passed by the Governing Body.

Director Capitalization

Directors of the Startup can provide additional debt to the organization. Directors, in consultation with the Innovation Cell, may change the authorized capital structure to provide additional capital.

Default Valuation

The default valuation of the company will be its authorized capital.

Shareholding Pattern

Up to 9.8% held by the Incubation Cell; the remaining part distributed among the directors.

Legal Jurisdiction

Kolkata

Non-Compete Policy

Directors of a Startup are barred from opening another company using the intellectual property developed at the Startup. They are also not allowed to perform technology transfer — through sale, employment, or consultation — of the Startup’s intellectual property without the written consent of the Innovation Cell.

Taxation

The Startup will be subject to direct taxation assessments and will be responsible to pay for such taxes from its own funds.

12. Startup Valuation and Exit Policy

The default valuation of a Startup will be set at its paid-up capital value, and will increase at INR 30,000 per month per employee working full time in the Startup.

The Incubation Cell will exit the Startup within 3 years of its incorporation, either by sale of its stake to investors, promoters, or faculty members, or by classifying the Startup as a Non-Performing Asset.

The valuation of the Startup will be recomputed every six months or as frequently as requested by the Governing Body.

Any intellectual property developed by the Startup will be independently evaluated and added to the valuation of the Startup during the next evaluation cycle.

The Startup is expected to generate revenues within 1 year of its inception. Post-revenue valuation will consider 52-week forward revenue projections and weekly revenue growth to arrive at the Startup valuation. The Incubation Cell will provide necessary legal and financial advisory services for Series A and Series B investments.

The Incubation Cell may sell its shares in the Startup to the founders or other faculty members at a discounted valuation only after a period of 3 years. The discounted valuation must be approved by the Governing Body.

The Incubation Cell may sell its shares in the Startup to investors at any point at a premium valuation. The premium valuation must be approved by the Governing Body.

13. Startup Accounting Policy

The Startup will maintain records of receipts and payments, which are subject to audit by the Innovation Cell’s auditors. The Startup is responsible for managing its tax liability from its working capital. Changes in capital cost structures and operational cost structures would need to be approved by the Innovation Cell as long as the Innovation Cell has a stake in the Startup.

14. IPR Policy

The following details will be considered during the assessment of Intellectual Property (Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights, Designs, and any other form of IP) for incubation purposes:

• Details relating to IP ownership, joint IP development, IP transfer, IP licensing and cross-licensing, etc.
• If the IP is developed at BPPIMT, whether any BPPIMT infrastructure (hardware, testing setup, instrumentation, computing resources, processes) has been used in developing the technology that will go into the product(s), and whether any consultancy projects were executed in the proposed area.
• Applicants who are current faculty or students of BPPIMT and are aspiring for incubation shall first approach BPPIMT for transfer of, licensing of, or permission to use IP in favour of prospective incubatee companies. They will initiate a letter to the CEO requesting the transfer of BPPIMT IP in favour of a start-up company intended to be promoted or supported by the inventor.
• All investigational items like samples, results, and prototypes will be destroyed in case of any legal issues.
• The Institute shall strive to market the IP and identify potential licensees for the IP to which it has ownership. The creator(s) are expected to assist in this process. The Institute may contract the IP to Technology Management Agencies (Government/Private) which manage the commercialisation of the IP.
• For IP for which exclusive rights have not already been assigned to a third party, the creator(s) may also contact potential licensees on their own initiative, maintaining confidentiality through appropriate agreements such as a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) so as not to affect the value of the IP.
• If the Institute is not able to commercialise the IP in a reasonable time frame, it may reassign the rights of the IP to the creator(s). Alternatively, the creator(s) may approach the CEO for the assignment of rights to them.
• Where IP is found to have infringed on IPRs, the Institute shall pass an order of confiscation. A copy of the order shall be conveyed to the creator.
• A committee constituted by the CEO will take a decision on future prospects of the IP.

15. Startup Employment Policy

Employees of a Startup will have a direct employment contract with the Startup. Such employees will not be considered as Incubatees. Seats for such employees will be chargeable to the Startup at a price approved by the Governing Body. The Startup may choose to open a branch office and seat its employees at a different location; operational costs for such an office will be borne by the Startup.

The Incubation Cell will provide a chargeable payroll service to the Startups, billed to the Startup on a monthly basis over and above the actual payroll costs.

16. Policy for Relaxation of Academic Credits to Incubatees

• Students are allowed to set up startups (social/tech/non-tech) or work part-time for a startup while studying at the institute.
• They are allowed to earn credit points/marks for working on innovative prototypes/business models as per Mandatory Additional Requirements (MAR) prescribed by the affiliating university.
• Student innovators/entrepreneurs may be allowed to opt for startups in place of mini projects/major projects/final year projects, seminars, and summer trainings. Evaluation in such cases can be done by external expert committees. The CEO may be entrusted with forming such committees in consultation with the respective heads of departments.
• They may be allowed to take a semester break or year break to work on their startups, subject to approval from the Institute and University.
• Student entrepreneurs/innovators are allowed to sit in examinations provided they secure the minimum attendance as prescribed by the affiliating university.
• They may use the address of the pre-incubation and/or incubation unit to register their venture while studying at the HEI.

17. Faculty Involvement Policy

Only innovations that originate from within the institute, or were previously developed elsewhere but have ownership of IP (if technology-based), will be implemented for faculty startups.

• The role of faculty may vary from being an owner, founder, co-founder, direct promoter, adviser, mentor, consultant, or board member of the startup. However, a faculty member cannot take the role of employee as CEO or other managerial role in their own startup, cannot draw a salary from the startup, and cannot accept gifts from their own startup. They may take a share of profit and dividend only if applicable, as owner or shareholder.
• The institute will work on developing a policy on ‘conflict of interests’ to ensure that the regular duties of the faculty do not suffer owing to their involvement in startup activities.
• A faculty startup may consist of faculty members alone, or with students, or with faculty of other institutes, or with alumni, or with other entrepreneurs.

Faculty must clearly separate and distinguish ongoing research at the institute from the work undertaken at the startup. Faculty must not involve research staff or other institute staff in startup activities, and vice versa. Human subject-related research in startups should get clearance from the ethics committee of the institution.

18. Policy for Relaxation in Terms of Service for Faculty

• In case the faculty/staff holds an executive or managerial position for more than three months in a startup, they will go on sabbatical, leave without pay, or utilise existing leave.
• In case of selection of a faculty startup by an outside national or international accelerator, a maximum leave of one semester/year (or more depending upon the decision of a review committee constituted by the institute) may be permitted. The institute may consider allowing use of its resources for faculty wishing to establish a startup as a full-time effort. Seniority and other academic benefits during such a period may be preserved.
• There will be no restriction on shares that faculty can hold, as long as they do not spend more than 20% of office time on the startup in an advisory or consultancy role and do not compromise their existing academic and administrative duties.
• In case the faculty is drawing a salary from the institute, the institute’s stake/equity in the startup should be limited to 20% of total faculty share or 9.5% of total stake, whichever is lower.

19. Unfair Practice Policy

The Incubation Cell may take punitive action against a Startup for unfair practice by passing a resolution. This may include civil or criminal interventions, confiscation of intellectual property, recovery of investments, reduced valuation, reclassification as a Non-Performing Asset, or other actions deemed necessary to revert the effects of such malpractices.

Unfair practice can arise from the following situations:

• Unauthorized usage of institute resources, labs, faculty, goodwill, etc.
• Unauthorised usage of research grants towards creating IP for a Startup
• Unauthorized usage of time and dereliction of academic requirements
• Plagiarism or wilful infringement of IP
• Wilful misrepresentation of investor interests or other critical information
• Unauthorized technology transfer
• Unfair financial practices

20. Services Provided to Startup and Quality of Service

The Innovation Cell will provide the following services to the Startup:

• Level 1: Space and operational amenities — 5% stake
• Level 2: Registration and statutory services — 6% stake
• Level 3: Seed capital for MVP — 8% stake
• Level 4: Specialised mentoring services — 9.5% stake

21. Indemnity Policy of Institute

The Innovation and Startup Cell shall indemnify the Trust of BPPIMT against all liabilities arising from its investments into the startups. The incubated startups, by virtue of being limited liability organizations, will indemnify the Innovation and Startup Cell against any civil or criminal liabilities arising from their actions.

22. Areas of Thrust

The governing body will pass resolutions to declare the area of thrust for the incubation cell. The thrust areas will remain in effect for at least 3 years and the incubation cell will direct resources towards building up competency to incubate startups in the declared areas. New areas of thrust may be added by an amendment to this policy document.

Current areas of thrust include:

• Green technology
• Impact technology