Mumbai: Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Hon'ble Minister of Science& Technology and Earth Sciences, Government of India, inaugurated Somaiya Vidyavihar’s RiiDL Technology Business Incubator. RiiDL received a grant of Rs. 5 crores for a period of 5 years from the Department of Science and Technology, GOI.

The 11,926 square feet centre located at Somaiya Vidyavihar (SVV) will provide startup businesses access to crucial lab and office space to rapid prototype their ideas. The Centre will focus on IT and electronic start-up ventures.

Interacting with startups Dr. Harsh Vardhan appreciated the student's projects and said that his department has proactively encouraged and will continue to support science and tech innovations that are scale-able and sustainable. Says Mr. Samir Somaiya, President, Somaiya Vidyavihar, “The opening of RiiDL TBI is a step forward in our commitment to foster innovation and entrepreneurship at SVV. Working alongside other entrepreneurial teams, can add great value to the spirit of innovation. These start-ups create jobs, provide solutions and encourage more entrepreneurial activity.”

Says Dr Rajan Welukar, Provost, Somaiya Vidyavihar “ Implementing technology innovations requires space, expertise and passion. An on- campus facility gives students access to expertise of faculties from different streams. At SVV where we have experts from IT to marketing and environment to engineering; the students will get opportunities to collaborate across streams and we hope to see innovations merging sciences and technologies.

Says Gaurang Shetty, Chief Innovation Catalyst RiiDL “ A group may have a success on a new kind of product, but may still have to figure out marketing or funding. Being in a facility like RiiDL is a unique experience. The space in such an environment where there is access to top experts, at the same time being surrounded by thousands of young students, the spirit of inquiry gets charged. The mentoring that is available, with experts from across the world visiting and spending time with youth and mentoring them, is making this a special space.”