Hubballi in Karnataka is set to get India's largest startup incubation centre, which will be inaugurated on July 18 by NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant. The incubation centre is being set up by Sandbox Startups and is aimed at solving the problems of non-metropolitan population. Sandbox Startups is founded by the Deshpande Foundation, promoted by Dr Desh Deshpande, its founder and patron.
Spread across 6.09 acres of land near the Hubballi Airport, the new facility has a range of prototyping facilities, including a MAKER’S lab with manufacturing and 3D printing capabilities as well as a fully operational Electronic Systems Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) centre.
Sandbox Startup Incubation Centre will work closely with startups and help them define their unique market proposition. The incubation centre will serve as a model to show how startups can grow in mid-tiered cities while providing technological solutions. The new centre has the capacity to host up to a hundred startups. Sandbox Startups is already actively recruiting new ideas and many startups are being incubated along with the launch of the incubation centre.
The incubation centre will provide a range of services from access to mentors, including many through a partnership with IESA (India Electronics and Semiconductor Association), network of founders, entrepreneurs and domain experts. “Startups at the centre will be incubated through various stages of growth and will provide the startups a flexible configuration that will allow them to scale up in space as their needs and staffing grows,” explained Deshpande.
Interestingly over the last eight years, incubator Sandbox Startups has supported over 80 ventures and has been successful in creating wealth of over Rs 70 crore in the local economy. The startups incubated have been successful in filing more than 50 patents in the technological space. The companies incubated span across different technology areas such as image processing, agricultural technology, Internet of Things (IoT), logistics, e-commerce, healthcare and service sectors. “The Sandbox startups is broadly a living laboratory for entrepreneurs where the problem solvers can come, experiment and build ventures,” added Deshpande.